Where Do We Go From Here?
by LShaune
Summary: The battle is over, and the tools of the battle have been cast aside. What do they do now? Where can they go? Can they stay together? Focuses on Trap Master, Mode Master, and Psycho Master. R&R please.
1. After The Battle

The plan had failed. Valen had not resurrected and their Master was destroyed. Narcius described it in far more colorful words, but that was the bulk of it. The plan had failed, and the tools no longer had someone there to use them. End of story. Period. Narcius and Kirielle sat in the church, before the altar with Karwyn. He wasn't awake, and hadn't been since they found him. Kirielle kept searching for signs of life while Narcius paced the church, talking to whoever wanted to listen, whether it was God, Kirielle, or the very unconscious Karwyn.

"Aw man, it's all gone South man, all gone South. We shoulda figured it, what with that Mint brat and Rue kid, aw man..." He aimed a kick at the wall and managed to stub his toe on the hard rock. While he hopped around, yelping and cursing, Kirielle finally looked up.

"Stop messing around, it's hard to figure out if someone has a heart beat with someone else cussing a blue streak in the background," She said, looking at him with red rimmed and black streaked eyes. Narcius stopped, but only because he didn't want her to start crying again. It seemed like she hadn't done anything other then cry since the atelier had fallen and they'd found Karwyn. That had been around three days ago. Narcius walked over to where she was with Karwyn and looked at him for a moment. No change, no change what so ever, and Narcius didn't think there would be for a while, unless he died on them.

"Why'd you have to go and do something noble like savin' that punk, huh?" Narcius said, standing back up and heading to a far corner away from the rest of the group. "Why'd he have to go and do a stupid thing like that?" Kirielle didn't look at Narcius while he spoke, mainly because she was wondering the same thing. Why had he bothered to save Rue, when Rue was one of the factors that had caused their Master's death? It bothered her. The whole idea of it bothered her. Kirielle looked watched Karwyn's immobile face for a long moment, trying to will him to tell her what exactly had been going through his mind when he took a short breath. Narcius turned so quickly he almost fell down at the sound and hurried over.

"Is he finally waking up?" He asked Kirielle, looking at Karwyn for some sign of an awakening. Before she could answer, Karwyn opened up his own mouth and spoke.

"Yes, I'm awake," he answered in a voice that cracked from thirst. Kirielle winced at the sound and helped him up, knowing even if it killed him he wouldn't stay down for long. Narcius helped him stand by putting one of his arms over his neck. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and both Narcius and Kirielle felt a tingle, like a cold breeze that makes ones hair stand on end. Narcius felt the urge to let go of the dying man and get the heck away from him, but didn't. Kirielle, however, did move away a bit, looking uncomfortable. Karwyn didn't address it, and seemed to be a bit more focused on something else. He took a moment before speaking. "They're going to wake up today too," He said calmly, as if addressing the weather or some other menial fact.

"They? You mean Mint and Rue?" Kirielle asked sharply, a slight fire coming to her eyes. Narcius helped Karwyn sit down on the altar before speaking. "No Kirielle, he means those Poppul Purrel things I've heard so much about," he snapped with heavy sarcasm, "who do you think he means?" Kirielle looked over at him with more life in her eyes then he'd seen in the last few days. Narcius was just beginning to follow her train of thought when Karwyn said, "No."

"No? No?! Why not?! Mint and Rue, they're both the reason that we failed! If they were gone it all would have worked just fine!" She yelled at him. Narcius had the urge to step between them just to make sure Kirielle didn't kill Karwyn herself. When she set her mind to something, she did it. No if's, and's, or but's about it.

"We're not going to try to start a war in the middle of Carona, Mode Master. If we do we'll have at least four people against us, maybe six if those two wake up early," Karwyn said, still calm and 'reasonable' but now adding a slight edge to each word that forced them to sink into Kirielle and Narcius's skulls. Narcius knew what the outcome of that kind of fight would be, Carona one, Washed Up Tools of Ruecian zilch. What a heart warming thought that was. Kirielle looked at Karwyn as though getting ready to start arguing again, but she had no ammo to combat that statement. She fell silent and stared at the floor, her eyes refilling with tears. Narcius sought his defense in his temper.

"You might wanna call us by our names now, hot shot. I don't think we have much of a job waiting for us at East Heaven," Narcius quiped. Karwyn didn't answer for a moment, and Narcius was sure he must have passed out or died, and then said, "Alright then, Kirielle it's not in our best interest right now to try to lead an attack against two people who are probably guarded by some very strong individuals."

"Can't you tell?" Kirielle snapped, more out of displeasure then actual anger. Narcius had always considered Karwyn a tool that begged to be used, but now he was starting to see that Kirielle wasn't far behind him. It was kind of a scary thought, actually, that Narcius may have been on the same path as them. Maybe it was best being the youngest of the three, it meant he still had to time rearrange his career options before he got too caught up in it. Karwyn shook his head at Kirielle, which meant one of two things: either 'Be quiet' or 'No.' Right now it seemed to mean both.

"...So what do we do now?" Kirielle said, her voice sounding choked with a new wave of tears. Narcius looked close to strangling her for crying so much. It was hard to tell what Karwyn was thinking, but then it always was. Narcius thought it was pretty darn obvious what had to be done. They had to get outta dodge, so to speak. Apparently Karwyn was thinking the same thing.

"We'll need to leave as soon as we can," he said, standing on his own with what looked like great effort. Kirielle hurried back over to him, but he didn't even acknowledge her attempts to help him. Kirielle saw the tell tale movements of extreme pain, mostly in his back. She looked away and stared at the statue before them.

"Where can we go? They probably know that Narcius and I are still alive, so they will be searching for us. When they find out you are too, then it'll only get worse," She said, sounding more under control then she was a moment ago. Narcius heard a dry click when Karwyn swallowed, and he finally took a good look at him. His skin had taken a strange pallor, and his eyes seemed unusually bright, even for him. Narcius had a strong suspicion that he and Kirielle hadn't done a good enough job cleaning out the wounds they'd found on him. Maybe he had an infection, or a fever. At least he didn't look like he was going to die quite yet. People who looked like that were normally shruken with a papery look to their skin, and he still looked like he had plenty of life left in him. That was good. As far as Narcius could tell, they still needed to stick together if they wanted to stay alive.

But how long exactly could they stick together, before they were found and seperated? Kirielle stared at the ground as she considered this thought. They had been together for so long, since they were all children. She couldn't stand the idea of them all being seperated, they were like a family. Narcius looked over at her, and after a moments hesitation, sat beside her.

"We just need to get as far away from here and East Heaven as possible. Go somewhere those two royal pains won't find us, and that punk kid," Narcius said, trying to comfort Kirielle. Karwyn watched them with something close to curiousity, but didn't interupt. He leaned back against the wall and felt small threads of heat that threatened to turn into horrendous pain curling around his spine and head towards his head.

"...When do we leave?" Kirielle asked, wiping black and tears away from her eyes. Narcius looked at Karwyn, the eldest of them, for a clue as to their next step. He looked at them both before answering, "We'll be leaving immediantly if we can."

As the three began to talk about where to go, a small boy slowly closed the church doors and headed out into the square, to tell Prima and anyone else who would listen about the strangers in the church. 


	2. Tools Without Purpose

Here is the second chapter! I realize the characters might be a little ooc, but please bear with me. Some of them have taken on different personalities in my mind. Please R&R and enjoy!

"...There once was a man from-"

"Don't even Narcius!"

Narcius shot a glare at Kirielle and then sat down on the ground. It looked like they'd be sleeping there tonight, unless of course a barn, abandoned house, or shed suddenly materialized. So far that hadn't happened though, and no one thought that would change soon.

"Then what the heck am I suppose to do Kirielle? I'm bored to tears," Narcius grumbled, pushing over some grass with the heel of his shoe.

"Do something useful why don't you! Go find wood for a fire! Go get some water! Anything is better then listening to you sing those awful songs!" She shot back, giving him her own icy glare as she began to pull blankets from a bag.

The bag, and the items in it, had been stolen from a shop in Carona shortly before they had left. Inside the bag were three blankets and some clothes. Everything else they had thought they could get on their own.

While they were still getting by it seemed that was all they were doing, getting by. While they were far enough away from Carona to be able to stop and rest more often now, they still had to keep a look out to make sure no one knew where they were.

It seemed to be making Narcius' temper short. Kirielle wasn't doing much better, and in their minds Karwyn didn't count. He was just weird like that, always way too calm.

Narcius stood back up, brushing the seat of his pants off and looking irritated. Kirielle expected him to argue with her, but instead he just stomped off into the woods. She heard a small crash followed by a long stream of colorful words, and then more stomping. She almost smiled.

"He should be back soon."

Kirielle jumped and then looked at Karwyn, who had been sitting under a tree so silently she was sure he had been asleep. He had been sleeping a lot during the past week they'd been traveling, and it was beginning to worry her. That, and the lines of red that had begun to appear around his wounds. The lines of a bad infection.

"Where is he heading?" Kirielle asked, trying to force out the thought of a possible infection. She pulled harder at a blanket and felt the seam of the bag give just a little. She nearly swore, but the idea of sounding just like Narcius was more then enough to keep her from actually uttering the words.

It seemed the longer they traveled together, the more they got on each others nerves.

"He's heading for a small stream close by," Karwyn answered. After a moment he held out his hand, and Kirielle handed the bag over without comment. It took him only seconds to remove the blankets from the bag, something that made Kirielle feel next to useless.

They'd only been traveling a week, and it had become quickly apparent to her just how much she didn't know about surviving. She could fight, make no mistake there. When it came down to a good rough and tumble she could hold her own quite nicely. When it came to things like finding edible plants, catching fish, or setting up a shelter however, she was almost painfully inexperienced. She sighed heavily.

"Do you think he'll be able to get the water back by himself?" She asked, taking the blanket and bag from Karwyn so she could make their beds and maybe repair the bag.

"Yes, he'll be able to get it back," Karwyn answered, leaning forward slightly so his back didn't press so hard against the tree. While Kirielle made beds, and then say down with a needle and thread to try to fix the bed, he realized just how useless he had been so far.

It was an uncomfortable feeling. He'd always been self sufficient, and had always been able to do nearly anything asked of him. Now getting up and walking a few miles was a challenge, and teleporting nearly impossible. His mind had a foggy feeling that was steadily blanketing his thoughts, and with the way the infection was spreading he felt that soon teleporting would be impossible. Then how was he suppose to help?

Both Kirielle's and Karwyn's thoughts were interupted by another small crash and a stream of words that could peel paint. Kirielle hopped up to go check on Narcius while Karwyn remained where he was, trying to focus enough to figure out what had happened to Narcius. The image conjured was enough to nearly make him laugh: Narcius with his shoe caught under a root, face planted firmly in the dirt with the container of water held out in front of him. For what it was worth, the water hadn't spilled.

He smiled faintly as he waited for the two to get back, and when they finally did return he could hear them bickering like siblings would. The sound was somewhat calming in its familiarity. They were always fighting, after all, even before the fall of Ruecian.

His smile faded somewhat. The fall of Ruecian, there, he'd admitted it. Ruecian was dead, they were lost, and would more then likely be killed if found.

These things, however, were not nearly as troubling as the fact that now that Ruecian was gone there was no one there to control them, to order them, to keep them under control. That was the worst of it. There was no one there to use them, and tools wanted someone to use them. Not just wanted, needed someone to use them.

Without someone to use them, they were just floundering around in the dark, hoping to run into something good but knowing that it was just as likely they'd run into something bad. They needed purpose, but their purpose had died along with Ruecian. Now they were just beings there to take up space.

He exhaled slightly and heard Narcius and Kirielle finish setting up camp. Narcius opened his mouth, probably to start singing more of his vulgar songs, when Kirielle slapped him soundly and told him to go to bed. Kirielle didn't have to tell Karwyn to go to sleep. Before she could turn and address it or he could decide to go to sleep, he was already out.

His dreams were full of memories. 


	3. The First Tool Gathered

The place where his parents had lived had been small and quiet, until the wars between kingdoms had caught it in its crossfire. He could remember the soldiers that had walked through the streets, who had set fire to houses and struck down people as they ran in terror. 

In paticular, he could remember a man with white hair and a red and black mask. That man had scared him badly, the way he had been able to destroy things and people with such ease, with so little remorse. The man slew anyone that moved, and because of that he had hidden beneath a hay wagon with his arms wrapped around his head, hoping he would not be found.

He could remember feeling an odd sort of tickle at the edge of his mind, one that he had been desperate to ignore. The 'tickle' had always been there, and had always been with him, but his parents had told him a long time ago not to 'use' it. He didn't know what it meant to 'use' it, but at that moment he had a pretty good idea. He had, after all, messed around with it a little bit when his parents weren't around.

He found out that the 'tickle' was really like a small door inside his mind that he could use to manipulate the world around him. He could, for example, pick objects up without going over and physically moving them. He could start small fires by imagining the heat and flame. He could even watch people that were working in the fields far away from his bedroom. He also found that the results of this experimentation were much more dramatic when he was upset.

He didn't think of this as 'using' the 'tickle,' because surely using it would have brought about disasterous consquences. Surely something so warned against would have had much more spectacular results then what he had done.

Surely the results of 'using' the 'tickle' would have been much more like this. Much more like what this man in black and red was doing.

He felt the tickle grow stronger, no longer just a pull at the edge of his mind but a living thing that demanded his full concentration to keep under control. He was so focused on keeping himself under control that he didn't realize he'd been spotted. He didn't even know anyone was coming towards him, not until he opened his eyes and saw the black red boots in front of him.

This close, he could see some of the red on him was not dye, but blood that was seeping into the fabric and leather. He could smell smoke, and sweat, and the coppery smell of the blood that stained him. He pulled himself up onto his knees and stared at the boots, terrified to look up.

Where were his mother and father? Shouldn't they be there now? Shouldn't they be there protecting him? He knew they loved him, and the fact that they were not there weighed heavily on his mind. It made the pull stronger, and it made his urge to 'use' it all the more powerful.

Almost against his own will, he looked up into the mask of the man in front of him. Black, red, and white all came together to make a nearly demonic looking face. Amber eyes pierced him and paralyzed his lungs. His heart beat frantically in his chest as he tried to look away.

The man looked at him for only a few seconds before walking away, perhaps because the child had been so small or because he didn't want the childs blood on his hands. He had looked to small and too frightened to kill.

The boy sat still as the man walked away, and was still sitting there when the next one walked up to him. This one didn't have any such problems killing a child, the boy knew that much. He smelled of blood and high spirits. He probably wouldn't even remember the boy the next day. As the man had raised his sword against the boy, the boy reached a conclusion.

His parents were probably already dead.

That thought wiped out the need to hold back the pull and it rushed out of him with an intensity that shattered his normal, waking mind. The hay wagon shifted, rumbled, and then was lifted off the ground. The man with the sword shivered, eyes opened wide with fear as the wagon propelled itself towards him, narrowly missing the boy. The wheels on it broke, the sides gave, and hay was everywhere. The man in question laid beneath the pile, one of the broken board wedged in his chest while his legs were crushed by the debri.

The boy stood up, his eyes closed and yet still knowing what was around him. The man in the mask didn't seem to be close by. That was good. He walked towards the square, where the brunt of the battle was. He'd show them what it was to 'use' this pull. He'd show them all.

By the time it was all over, the child lay in the middle of the square with the dead all around him. He wasn't sure who belonged to which kingdom, but it didn't seem to matter anyways. All of them had been stained red by their own blood.

He coughed. Once, twice, and red spilled out of his mouth. The last soldier had gotten his wits about him long enough to pierce the boy's chest with a long, thin sword. It had missed his lungs and heart, but somewhere in there something was hurting. As he laid there in a growing pool of his own blood, he had no doubts in his mind that he was going to die. In fact, despite that the soldiers had probably deserved what they had gotten, he wanted to die for what he had done.

Another cough brought more blood into his mouth, and he shut his eyes. He felt cold all over. Maybe he was finally dying. Maybe when he opened his eyes again, his parents would be there.

He did open his eyes again, but his parents were not there. Instead he opened his eyes and saw stars, so many in fact that he was momentarily confused. There were never this many stars around the small town he lived in. The lights from their homes made it hard to see them.

He turned his head to look around, and saw the man in the mask. His clothes were not so bloody now, but he had no doubt who he was. The smell of it still clung to him. He reached out of his mental doorway and grabbed at the man. The man turned his head to look at him, and ithrew/i his mental grasp off of him so soundly that the boy felt it. Like a sharp blow to the head, it made him feel disoriented and sick.

"You're a strong one," the man said, without a trace of remorse for what he'd done in his voice. Instead he walked over and placed his hand on the boy's forehead. "The fever is gone, you should be fine so long as you cooperate."

"Cooperate?" He repeated, not understanding what the man said. Wasn't he going to kill him like he had killed everyone else? The man did not immediantly explain. Instead he studied him for so long that the boy became uncomfortable.

"You killed a lot of people back there, you know. Never touched anyone from your own town, but you killed every single person that crossed your path in a uniform." The words brought a sense of shame to the child, but the man continued as if what he had done had been a good thing.

"I actually decided to stand back and let you do most of the work, since you were doing it so well. I don't think you use magic, but maybe some sort of mental ability. Some kind of telekinetic or pyrokinetic powers. Maybe both, or maybe you still have a few things locked away in there."

He was confused. Telekinetic? Pyrokinetic? He didn't know what those words meant, and he couldn't remember much about what had happened anyways.

He could remember the blood, because there had been a lot of it. A sickly sweet burning smell. His heart pounding. Oddly enough, the entire dim recollection didn't have a feeling of fear or dread around it. The feeling it gave him made him feel... kind of alive. Like he was real and living suddenly. That thought scared him a little.

"...What are you going to do to me?" He asked softly, looking anywhere but at the masked man. He made him feel bad, scared, and he didn't want to see those amber eyes again. "Are you going to make me go to jail because I killed all those people?"

The man in the mask looked at him a moment, then threw back his head and laughed. The sound startled the child so badly he sat upright and cried out, one hand going to a dressed wound in his chest. The masked man reached forward and made him lay back again, pulling the blanket up to his chest.

"Go to jail? People are killed for what you did boy, but I think you could be useful to me. Very useful," he said softly, studying the boy again. "I think I'll keep you, in fact. you won't do the East Heaven Kingdom any good without proper training to keep yourself under control, and you won't do me any good either."

The boy wanted to speak, but he'd already started to drift away. The stars seemed further away, and the next time the man spoke it was softer.

_"Your name is now Karwyn, and you will work for me. Doll Master."_


	4. Sacrifices to be Made

Hiya! This is chapter, erm, 4! Yeah 4! I hope you guys are enjoying this, and do you think I need to change the rating because of this cutting scene? Please do tell.

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It took a whole month to get far enough away from Carona that they didn't have to worry about being found, but the place they made it to almost made them wish they'd let themselves be caught. Hot, wet, and severely overgrown, it looked like someone had gone to town with extra strength fertilizer and then just left the place to grow whatever it could. That wasn't the only thing they had to worry about either.

Narcius sat beside Karwyn, who he knew was sleeping, and sighed heavily. Kirielle should have been back a while ago, and Narcius wanted to get up and search for her but was loathe to leave Karwyn here alone. He had been getting steadily worse as time progressed, and even though the infection he had didn't seem to have gangrene in it, it was still growing steadily worse.

He sighed heavily and turned to face the man, fighting the growing urge to maybe drop a small leaf in front of the man's nose and watch it get blown away. He was bored again, bored, bored, bored. Narcius reached forward and felt Karwyn's head, which was dry and hot.

He'd been feverish for a week now and slept most of the time, but when he was awake he was still lucid, and that was a good sign. Still, the times when he was awake were growing fewer and fewer and the wounds on his back had begun to weep a thin, clear liquid. Narcius reached donw into his boot and pulled out a thin blade.

It was barely a blade, in the sense that it could not be used for self protection unless it was used on major arteries or eyes. Barley an inch long, the only thing it was really useful for was cleaning nails and cutting hair, but maybe it could be useful now.

"Hey wake up," Narcius whispered, shaking Karwyn's shoulders. For a few seconds he didn't think he was going to wake up, a thought that made him shake all the harder. Then Narcius felt a sudden mental shove that made him release his grip and nearly tumble backwards. He bit back the words that tried to come out, it had been his fault anyways.

"Narcius, what are you doing?" Karwyn sat up slowly, movements marked by the increasing pain and sickness he was experiencing. Narcius settled himself close by and looked down. The idea of cutting into Karwyn's skin, even to save him, made his stomach roll over. Despite how much he annoyed Narcius, he was still the closest thing to a brother he had.

"I was..." Narcius swallowed, mouth dry. The small blade shivered in his hand, and he instantly wished he hadn't woken him up. The fever clearly raged in his unusually bright eyes, and movement made him break out in a cold sweat. What made him think that cutting a series of holes in his back was going to help? Narcius made to put the blade back in his book when it was pulled from his hand. It hung in the air between them for a moment before falling to the ground.

"Would you know what to do?" Karwyn asked, almost conversationally. Narcius wiped his upper lip and nodded, feeling much less calm then he appeared.

"Of course I know what to do, I'm not stupid. Just reopen the wounds, drain'em, and then clean the mess out. It's not rocket science," Narcius grumbled, picking the knife back up and wiping the blade off. Karwyn looked at it calmly with an air of expectancy. Narcius considered telling him that he had never done this before in his life, just to see what he'd do, but dismissed the idea. He didn't think it's do anything anyways.

"Well then, put the blade in the fire for a few moments. I'll tear my blanket, so you'll have something to bind the cuts with," Karwyn said, and simple as that he got to work. He didn't sound scared, or even apprehensive of what Narcius was going to do. He just began tearing long, thin strips of cloth from his blanket.

Narcius stood and walked over to the fire, trying to find the best place to put the tiny piece of metal. He finally settled it between two rocks, where it wouldn't tumble into the flames. He hated this feeling, this horrible fear that he was going to do something wrong and somehow, with that tiny knife, puncture his friend's lung or kidney or something.

By the time the make shift gauze and the knife were ready, Narcius had broken out in a cold sweat. He walked back over to Karwyn, carrying the knife gingerly between his thumb and finger. Karwyn sat there calmly with his back to him. Narcius wondered if he'd do anything when the hot blade cut his skin, but he didn't think he would.

After wrapping his thumb in a small strip of cloth, Narcius positioned the blade in his hand so the cutting pressure would be applied with his thumb. Then he leaned forward and placed the edge of the knife against Karwyn's skin. Narcius bit his lip and tried to apply pressure to the knife, but found the strength had left his arm.

"What are you waiting for?" Karwyn asked, knowing perfectly well why Narcius wasn't cutting. He could feel the point of the blade on the sensitive skin, and each time Narcius pressed down or let up on the knife was broadcasted loud and clear. He felt another sharp pain from the blade, but it still hadn't cut his skin.

"Man, I can't do this. I can't. What'll happen if the knife is still dirty and-"

"Narcius, I don't want to hear your excuses," Karwyn said, the words short and brittle. He felt Narcius lift the knife away from his back. "If I'm going to die, then this will just help me along, and if I'm going to live then this will at least buy more time. You don't have any reason to be nervous, so just take the knife and cut. Kirielle will be back soon."

The last words, added like an after thought, made Narcius return the knife to his skin. Kirielle would be back soon, should have been back a while ago. How would she react seeing him cutting into Karwyn's back like a mad butcher with an eye problem? Probably not well.

The words had done something else too. They had made him mad. Excuses? The only excuse he had was that he cared! What was wrong with that? He wasn't going to screw this up, nuh-uh. He was going to do this right, which meant he had to do it slow. This jerk could just suffer through it.

So he cut, straight along the lines left by the magic and weapons used by those two bratty kids. After the first line was cut he saw pus oozing out and he wiped it away. Sometimes he pressed down until the gunk was gone an all the ran out was blood. Cut, wipe, press, wipe. Cut, wipe, press, wipe. He continued like that until the raised areas were gone and the cuts he'd made bled only red.

The whole time Karwyn didn't say a thing, but he could see pain on his face. _Well, too bad hot shot, you're the one who let me do it_, Narcius thought.

After binding the cuts with the makeshift gauze, Narcius let karwyn lay back down. White faced, but still utterly calm, he fell back asleep and Narcius began cleaning up.

He had carried the rag used to wipe away the blood and pus and the knife over to a spot to dump them when what he had done hit him. He bent over and vomited, something he hadn't done in years over something like this. Wiping his mouth he spat onto the ground, throwing the bloody rag and knife away.

The infection wasn't gone, he knew that. This was just to buy some time, time they probably didn't have anyways. Narcius headed back to camp, feeling a tightness in his throat that threatened to turn into vomiting every once in a while. He sat down heavily beside the fire, trying to keep from gagging.

"Narcius?" Kirielle emerged from the wood, finally, with water and the bag they'd been using to carry their things in. Now the bag was only used to carry their blankets and food, since they had long ago cast off their East Heaven's clothing in exchange for clothes that would let them fit in better. Narcius nodded, unaware of how pale and sweaty he looked. Kirielle walked over quickly, setting the bag down as she went.

"Did you get hurt?" She asked, looking concerned and scared. She seemed scared a lot now. A lot more then before.

"I'm fine, just needed to... to take care of something," Narcius answered, not feeling like being snippy with her at the moment. She nodded and sat down, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"There's a road that way," she said, nodding towards the direction she'd come from. "I don't know where it leads, but I thought we could follow it. Maybe someone traveling would pick us up and take us to a town."

"We can't do that Kirielle," Narcius whispered back, casting glances over at Karwyn who he thought must have been working, but who could very well be awake too. "If someone goes down that road who's seen a poster or anything we could be dead."

"But if we don't go, he could die," Kirielle said, unaware of how the words hit Narcius's heart. "I don't know if I could call him a brother, but he does try to take care of us. We should at least try."

It was a long moment before Narcius replied. "Alright, we'll go there in the morning. Right now let's just go to sleep."

Kirielle nodded her agreement and went to her bed, picking up the bag to set in the tree's as she went. Narcius just laid down where he was, stomach still feeling questionable and nerves tingling. Traces of blood still stained his hands, and he rubbed them furiously together until it was gone.

It took a long time for him to fall asleep that night.


	5. Rescued?

**Hello my friends! Huh, I seem to have developed a few fans. How strange...**

**Anyways, here's chapter five! Sorry if it seems short but they need to be saved soon or else they're gonna die XD**

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"You know it's really gonna make me mad if we came all this way just to die in the snow," Narcius said, ploughing through the snow. 

Thick flakes fell down and coated Kirielle's hair, making her age about ten years before the flakes melted and froze. She opened her mouth to respond to Narcius' comment and instead began to cough. The group stopped walking as her coughing spell became a hacking spell. She bent over and spat out a mix of blood and mucus before regaining her ground.

"I'm fine," she said in a hoarse voice that didn't sound fine at all. "I'm fine." Narcius sighed audibly and she shot him a glare before she started walking again. Karwyn just shook his head at the two and kept walking. Narcius hurried along, staring up the long winding road they'd been walking.

The snow had begun to fall a week earlier and had already blanketed the area in a thick, fluffy blanket. It would have been pretty, had it not been so life threatening.

The snow had already frozen Kirielle's lungs and she was constantly coughing up blood and gunk from it. Narcius' had developed a fever, his fingers were beginning to turn white at the tips and he was losing feeling in both them and his toes. Consequently, he had stopped removing his shoes to check them a while ago. Neither Master knew how Karwyn was doing, because while his fever was nearly gone it was getting harder and harder to wake him up each morning. His skin was beginning to lose it's color and his eyes were dull.

The silent thought they all shared was that it might be best to stop walking now and dig three holes for them to fall in when they died. It would at least save them a little bit of time, and doing it now might mean having a deeper grave then if they did it later.

They kept walking anyway. By now it was just to prove that they could keep walking, if not to each other then to themselves. Everyone needed to strive for something after all.

That night when they made camp they all slept close to the fire and close together. Kirielle, who was having the most trouble with the cold, slept closest to the fire and Narcius slept beside her. Karwyn was still awake when they fell asleep, but when Kirielle woke several hours into the night she saw he'd fallen asleep sitting up.

Kirielle sat up too and felt Narcius turn over, inhaling deeply and then letting the frigid air out in a shaky breath. The usual fog she was used to seeing come out was absent now, as his body began to grow as cold as the air around them. She looked out to the road, shivering. She had been hoping that eventually someone would come down that road and they would be saved, but now she thought the idea was silly. Even if someone did pass by, they'd probably keep right on going. She didn't even want to speculate what they'd think seeing two men and a woman traveling together.

Kirielle watched the fire begin to dwindle in the cold and wind and made no attempt to stop it. By tomorrow they would all probably be dead anyways, so what was the point? She laid her head back down and watched the fire go out. Drawing in a deep breath that pierced her chest she shut her eyes and waited for blissful darkness.

* * *

"Any of'em wakin' up yet?" A gruff voice let Kirielle know that she had not died during the night. She swallowed and felt her throat protest the action, and the pain let her know that she was not sleeping either. A hand, velvet soft and well worn, gently stroked her hair back away from her face. The strong smells of food, cotton, and heat came off of the hand. 

"Dunno, this one looks like she might be comin' 'round, but the other two ain't doin' much," a sweeter voice answered. Kirielle tried to force her eyes open and the light stabbed at her eyes and made her head pound. The hand began to stroke her forehead. Was she moving? Her legs were motionless, but she felt herself moving. A wagon? A carriage?

"She's awake Jeb, but she's not lookin' too well," the kind voice said as the fingers made their comforting journey up and down Kirielle's forehead. Kirielle raised her hand to ward the hand off. She needed to find Narcius and Karwyn. They were sick too, they hadn't been left behind had they?

"Settle down, Miss, settle down," Kirielle sat up slightly and began coughing. A frail arm found its way around her and held her gently. Kirielle opened her eyes and saw who had been her savior. Old, wrinkled skin, warm brown eyes, and hair so white it looked like the snow they had been dying in outside. She was trying to settle her back down into a makeshift bed of blankets and clothes.

"Where-" Kirielle couldn't even make it past that word before her throat caught and she began coughing again. The old woman held a cloth to her mouth while she coughed and it came away stained with red.

"Tell that child to settle down! We've got at least half a days travel ahead of us and I don't want to spend it listening to her kill herself!" The gruff voice said, though the words had not been said without kindness.

"Oh settle down Jeb, she's just worried about those young fellows she was with," the old woman said, taking Kirielle's hand and settling it on someone's forehead.

When Kirielle looked she saw Narcius, slightly paled and shivering, but alive. Beside him was Karwyn, who showed little change. Kirielle settled down a little, but didn't want to lay back down.

She started to try for another sentence and was struck by a hoarse coughing fit. The old woman pounded on her back, repositioning her spine somewhere in her chest, and then offered her a bottle.

"Here Miss, just take a drink of this and see if that doesn't help ya," she said, tilting the bottle slightly so the liquid could slip into Kirielle's mouth.

The effect was instantaneous. Heat filled Kirielle's mouth and slipped down her throat into her belly. The fumes from the stuff climbed up her throat and brought on a new, but slightly different coughing spell. The man with the rough voice began laughing.

"Careful there! We don't want her drunk as well as sick, do we?" He said, voice full of playful teasing.

"I'm just givin' her enough to warm back up Jeb, you're the only one around here to drinks to get drunk," the old woman said, capping the bottle and stowing it away. Kirielle wiped her mouth, grimacing, as the old woman hooted with laughter. When the laughter died away, the old woman wiped tears from her eyes and pulled a blanket over Kirielle's shoulders. She began speaking as though Kirielle were asking questions, maybe to put her at ease.

"The younger one there looks like he started to get a bit o' frost bite there, but nothin's gone black yet so we can probably save'em. Looks like he was pickin' up a bit of your fever too, from the looks of him, but he'll be fit as a fiddle in no time at all!" The old woman laughed and Kirielle could only stare.

'Fit as a fiddle'? She didn't think she'd ever heard that one before in her life. The old woman pointed to Karwyn, who remained deep in his sleep.

"That one there looks like he's got somethin' wrong, but nothin' a bit o' my cookin' and some medicine won't fix. He'll be bed ridden a while though, but my Jeb will fix him up, he'll fix him up just fine!" The old woman slapped her knee and then hugged Kirielle companionably. The girl was confused beyond all reason. Why was this old woman helping them? Why did she keep talking like they'd all known each other forever and now they were just going home to spend some quality time together?

Why were they being so nice to them? Kirielle tried to ask the woman but couldn't get the words out. Over and over again she tried to say, _'What are nice people like you doing out here?'_ The old woman must have seen the question in Kirielle's eyes, because she stroked back her hair and smiled.

"Why, we're out here helping you Miss," she said in a matter of factly, no nonsense voice. Kirielle felt her throat close and tears welled up in her eyes, and while Kirielle had cried a lot that trip she had never cried because someone had stopped to care.

The old woman held Kirielle like she was her own daughter and stroked her hair back, making soft soothing sounds that had no words but were always understood. Kirielle buried her face in the old woman's shoulder, hiding her face in shame. She knew they had killed many other people probably as kind and sweet as this old woman, and the thought that now one of them was coming back to offer her comfort was too much. She sobbed for a long time before the silence came, and even then it was broken by her jagged breathing.

As the old woman settled her back down into the blankets, the gruff voice spoke again.

"If she cries that much jus' because we picked'em up," Jeb said, urging the horses to go faster. "Jus' imagine how she'll cry when she tastes your cookin'!"


	6. Adjusting to a New Home

The couples home turned out to be an Inn they ran close to some ruins. They had believed the place would be ideal for business since it was so close to the ruins, but so far everything had gone downhill since they got there. 

The customers were little more then drifters and merchants wandering from place to place, they didn't have enough workers to build more onto the Inn, and the well dried up. The only reason they themselves had stayed was because they didn't have enough money to go anywhere else. They were stuck.

The Inn itself seemed to reflect the desperation the couple had been feeling for so long. The paint was peeling, the roof sagged, and its sad window eyes seemed to be begging the wind to just blow a little harder so it could be put out of its misery once and for all. Kirielle cringed just looking at the poor, beaten thing.

"Home again, home again, dancin' a jig," the old woman chuckled as the wagon came to a stop. Kirielle felt a smile tug at her lips but forced it to remain away. She'd smile once she knew her friends were going to be okay. She glanced over at Narcius and Karwyn. Both took slow, steady breaths that were invisible in the air. It wasn't much, but it was something.

"Miss, can you help me wake these boys up?" The old woman said, hefting herself up from her seat and meandering towards the back of the wagon. "I don't think Jeb'll have a problem getting them out, but I don't want'em freakin' out or anything when they see a buncha old people pullin' out of a wagon like sacks of seed."

Kirielle nodded and began to shake Narcius awake. He moaned, jerked, and then bolted upward so quickly Kirielle narrowly missed cracking heads with him. He rubbed his eyes and looked around in a confused daze.

"No, not dead," He suddenly said, looking a little more comfortable. "If I were dead my hands and feet wouldn't hurt so much." Kirielle looked at Narcius with dumb shock. Then she clocked him a good one.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Narcius yelped, rubbing his head with his palms. Kirielle's eyes were filled with tears and righteous anger.

"If you ever, ever say anything like that again I swear I'll- I'll-!" Kirielle began to both sob and cough as she hugged Narcius, who suddenly mirrored her previous look of dumb shock. He patted her back awkwardly, trying to figure out what exactly he had just said to set her off like this. She was emotional, but she wasn't a touchy feely person either.

"Kirielle, um, I know I'm kind of interrupting me but where the heck are we?" Narcius asked, waving awkwardly to the old woman who was just chuckling and grabbing bags to haul inside. Kirielle released Narcius and wiped her eyes with her sleeve before answering.

"These people found us by the road and just picked us up I suppose," she answered in a strange, hoarse voice. "They keep saying they're going to help us."

Narcius looked in the direction the old woman had gone with suspicious eyes. Narcius didn't believe in getting anything for free, even from his two traveling companions he believed he would have to give something in return. He bit his lip and thought as Kirielle moved on to wake up Karwyn.

Narcius sighed audibly, deciding that there was really no choice in the matter. They were in a new town, being 'taken in' by this elderly couple. If he did something now, then they would probably be driven out. He'd wait for now, and see what exactly it was they wanted.

"Settle down," he heard Karwyn say suddenly, making Narcius' heart rate jump to a sudden, rabbit fast pace. Narcius swore under his breath and Kirielle covered her mouth to hide a faint smile.

"I swear one day I'll find a way to make your mouth trigger an alarm so when know when you're gonna to do that," Narcius grumbled, looking over at the weakened man. Karwyn offered a sort of smile that looked odd on his face before trying to get up. He made it halfway before Narcius reached over and helped him up.

"What have they asked?" Karwyn said, his face regaining it's normal calm appearance. Kirielle also resumed the appearance of a Master, something that was unnerving after seeing her in such an open state for so long.

"Nothing, the old woman just talked the whole way here. The old guy-" Kirielle broke off to start coughing again before she continued. "The old guy is called Jeb, he sounds rough but he's nice."

Karwyn nodded, eyes closed and face showing no traces of the thoughts beneath. "We'll have to tell them we're family," He finally said. Raising his head as though to meet their eyes. Narcius stifled a laugh.

"Family? Karwyn, maybe in a circus we could be considered family but otherwise I think we're just a little too different to pull that one off hotshot," He said, illustrating Kirielle's thoughts as well.

She loved them enough to call them her brothers, but there was no way anyone, even these old timers, would confuse them for siblings. They didn't look anything alike.

"Maybe not blood family, but we were all raised together and we were raised by the same man. Even if they won't believe we're related, they may be willing to buy that we consider each other siblings. We don't have much else to go on," Karwyn answered, looking over at the two. Narcius opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again. Kirielle considered Karwyn's words before nodding.

"Okay, I don't mind playing sister for a while," she said, her voice regaining some of the haughty tone it had had as a Master. "It'll be a heck of a lot easier then all the other things I've pretended to be. How do you feel about it Narcius?"

Narcius though a moment before smiling. "Why not? We get on each other's nerves enough that it should seem natural."

Karwyn smiled faintly again, that odd little smile that didn't look natural no matter how he looked at it, and nodded.

"We're all siblings then," He said, finally forcing himself up from the spot he'd been laying. Kirielle followed him to the back of the wagon, where they climbed out to help him down. For once he willingly accepted their help, either because they were now suppose to be siblings or because he didn't want to make a fool of himself tumbling out of the back of a wagon.

"Come on kids!" Jeb yelled to them from the Inn door. "Ma's got food on the stove, so you'd better hurry if you want any!" He called. Narcius grinned.

"That's all I need to hear, sorry Kirielle but you're cooking is horrible," Narcius said, hurrying on ahead and leaving Kirielle with Karwyn.

"Hey! You jerk, get back here!" Kirielle yelled with contempt at Narcius' retreating back. Beside her Karwyn began to make an odd, painful sound. He placed one hand over his mouth and seemed to be having trouble suppressing a cough.

"Hey are you alright?" She asked, looking concerned. Karwyn eventually removed his hand and nodded. He tried to begin walking when Kirielle grabbed the edge of his shirt.

"Hey, wait, what was that?" She asked, looking at is back as though expecting blood to begin staining the fabric. Karwyn reached over and tugged her hand from his shirt.

"I'm fine Kirielle, now head inside and get something to eat. I'll be there eventually," He said, and continued walking towards the Inn. Kirielle, worried but not likely to disobey orders, walked ahead of him and headed inside. She sat down beside Narcius and watched his slow progress to the Inn before she sat and ate with the elderly couple.

* * *

"No, no, you're doin' it all wrong. Put some wrist into it, like this!" Jeb swung the hammer down in one sharp movement. The nail went down in a single hit, still straight as a pin, and secured the board in place. Narcius gave the man a bemused look and then stared at his own nail and hammer. He set the nail carefully in place and rose the hammer into the air. He began the sharp swing downward.

"No, not like that!" Jeb yelled suddenly, distracting Narcius for one crucial moment. The hammer swung violently off course and crashed into the fingers holding the nail. Narcius opened his mouth to express the pain and Jeb reached over and covered it. The curses came out a muffled grumble.

"Give me a little warning next time would ya!" Narcius yelled when his mouth was uncovered. He stuck his injured fingers in his mouth for a moment before looking at them. Bruised and blackened, but everything was working. Narcius shot the old man a glare to which Jeb met with a smiled. They'd been on the roof for close to an hour and barely had a quarter of the darn thing fixed. It may have gone faster if the old codger would have stopped playing games.

Jeb grinned. Maybe it was a little mean, but this boy was just too fun to pick on. He got twisted into knots over the littlest things. Jeb went back to hammering while Narcius tried to burn holes into the back of his head with his eyes. So far there wasn't even smoke.

Narcius sighed and then looked at the road below. He could see people walking around, hurrying out of the cold into shops and then hurrying out to head home. It gave him an idea...

"Wow, look at her! I bet she'll catch frost bite in that!" Narcius said just as Jeb began to pound another nail. The old man suddenly craned his head in the direction Narcius was looking and nearly broke his thumb. Narcius giggled madly as the man grit his teeth and tried to hold back his own screams of pain.

"That wasn't very nice," he finally managed to say, giving Narcius a stern look. Narcius grinned back, completely unabashed by the old mans look.

"That's what you get for bein' a dirty old man," he answered, pounding another nail into place. The pain in his fingers was fading already. Jeb considered this a moment, and then clapped Narcius so roughly on the back he was nearly knocked off the roof.

"Ya got me there boy! Ya got me there!" He said, roaring with laughter. Narcius could only smile. Maybe this wouldn't be half as bad as he thought.

* * *

"Keep stirring Miss! If you don't it'll burn on the bottom!" The old woman, whom they'd been instructed to call 'Grandma' said. Kirielle picked up her pace again, refocusing her gaze on the pot of soup in front of her.

"Yes Grandma!" She said, stirring the pot furiously again. Her right arm screamed in protest and seemed to be threatening to fall off any second. Kirielle bit her lip and wiped her forehead with her free arm. _Negative fifteen outside and ninety inside_, she thought, watching carrots and bits of meat float cheerfully in the broth. _How crazy is that!_

"Good, good! We'll make you a master chef in no time!" Grandma said, favoring Kirielle with a smile that suggested she was proud of her. Kirielle felt a faint glow of warmth underneath her annoyance. She was used to being praised for killing, or being a clever deceiver, but being praised for cooking worked just as well. She felt Karwyn approach before she saw him, and Grandma turned and looked as well.

"I've finished taking inventory, what would you like me to do next?" He asked, setting some papers down on the counter. Kirielle grinned. Just like him to finish so quickly and then ask for another job. Kirielle tasted the soup and frowned a little before taking a pinch of salt and tossing it in.

"Oh go to bed, dear! I don't care how well you feel, if you don't rest you'll just get sick again!" Grandma said, brandishing a large wooden spoon at him. Kirielle began to giggled at the idea of him possibly being chased from the kitchen by an old woman with a wooden spoon. _After all the wars we've fought, I think we've met our match_, Kirielle mused.

Karwyn didn't go back to bed, but instead sat down and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. He smiled a little at the old woman.

"I can't work like this with my hands in the air, and I'm very comfortable right here," He said softly. "So, would it be okay if I stayed here to watch my sister?"

Grandma gave him a stern look and then turned to Kirielle. "If he does so much as pick up a dust bunny, hit him with this, okay?" She said, setting the wooden spoon beside Kirielle. The girl nodded, grinning widely, and watched the old woman leave. As soon as the room was clear, Karwyn resumed his poker face Kirielle burst out in rib splitting giggles.

"She has your number, eh Karwyn?" She asked, sipping some more of the soup. That was a little better. She'd have to write it down so she'd remember to add more salt next time.

"She's just worried, that's all," he said, letting out a breath. "How have you two been doing today?"

"Well, a little while ago I'm pretty sure I heard Narcius yelling, and then Jeb started laughing so it can't be that bad. Grandma is a bit of a slave driver, but she's nice about stuff, so I'm fine. How have you been doing?" Kirielle asked, glancing over at him.

"The pain is less, if that's what you mean," he answered, returning her gaze. She had hoped to see something new in those eyes, but there was nothing. Despite how he acted around the old couple, he had changed little in the time they had spent there. Very little. She sighed and looked back at the soup.

"What's wrong?" Karwyn asked, looking over at Kirielle. He could feel stress and traces of sadness coming off of her, despite her laughter moments ago.

"Nothing, now just wait a couple more minutes and the soup should be done, okay?" She said, smiling faintly. Karwyn watched his false sister for a few more seconds before turning his head away and focusing his attention on Narcius.

He didn't really understand what it was that bothered Kirielle, all he knew was that it had to do with him. He placed the moment in the back of his mind, deciding to re-examine it later. It wasn't his place to try to press her for information anyways. It could wait.

* * *

**A cookie to the person who can figure out what Karwyn was doing XD**


	7. Surrogate Children

**Note: Why the fishing scene? Why am I having Narcius and Jeb be buddy buddy? ...Easy, I don't have a clue what I'm typing anymore. XD**

"Wake up."

"Go away."

"Narcius."

"Come back when it's light out," Narcius grumbled, pulling a pillow onto his head. Karwyn reached forward and pulled it off.

"It's been light out for fifteen minutes, now get up," he said, resisting the urge to reach over and grab Narcius by his hair.

"Come back when it's been thirty minutes," Narcius said, now yanking the blanket over his head. Karwyn sighed and stood aside as Narcius' mattress suddenly tossed him to the floor. The connection with the floor caused the air to hiss out of his lungs, and by the time he got his breath back **somebody** had thrown a pair of clothes onto his face.

"You son of a-" Narcius began, pulling a shirt out of his mouth to speak.

"Be downstairs in about ten minutes, Kirielle and Grandma have breakfast ready," Karwyn said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He could still hear Narcius' grumbles and curses as he headed down the hall to the kitchen. Kirielle had already set out plates and was setting out silverware when he came in.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" She asked, setting out the last fork and knife. Karwyn smiled and nodded before finding his spot and sitting down. Kirielle sat down as well and Grandma smiled.

"How is our resident hoodlum doing?" She asked, setting a large plate of pancakes down in the middle of the table. Kirielle giggled faintly.

"I think he'll be getting up soon. He was out of bed when I left," Karwyn answered, turning his head to look out the window. He felt Grandma walk behind him and was surprised when she suddenly yanked on his hair.

"You need to cut your hair boy," she said, releasing him with a chuckle. Karwyn felt the back of his head and looked around a moment before locating Grandma again. "You're starting to look as rough as your brother."

Karwyn figured he must have made an odd face, because Kirielle was now doubled over in her chair with laughter. It was nice to see her, and Narcius, really happy again. Things had been going well. Very well, in fact.

Kirielle's cold had left after only a few days of treatment, and Narcius' fingers and toes had regained their usual pink color and use. Karwyn felt fine now, and suspected that when he was '100' like they kept telling him that he'd be able to do more work again. He suspected he'd probably escape this mess with only a few horrific scars, maybe less.

The old couple had given the three rooms on the ground floor, close to their own room, and Grandma was now bent on teaching each of them everything they'd ever need to know about house work. Jeb, on the other hand, seemed extremely pleased to have some extra labor around the Inn, and had been putting them to good use for a while now. Besides fixing the roof, Kirielle, Narcius, and occasionally Karwyn had fixed a wall, repainted rooms, replaced upholstery, and once how to catch and kill mice. Narcius had begun to joke that they could now either be exterminators or maids.

Narcius finally stumbled in, hair still messy (for him anyway), but upright and dressed. It was a start. He wandered over to his seat and sat down, yawning and throwing Karwyn an occasional dirty look for his rude awakening. Karwyn didn't even look at him except to tell him to eat before the food got cold.

"Now, now, no need to be fussy with each other," Grandma said, chuckling softly. "You two will be going with me today to pick up a few things," She said, pointing to Kirielle and Karwyn.

"Where are we going?" Karwyn asked automatically, looking up from his food.

"We're just gonna go get some things for you kids," she answered, "you've all been wearing those clothes for weeks, haven't you? You'll need at least two other outfits or the smell on those will chase our customers away."

Kirielle blushed at the statement and pulled slightly at her blouse. Narcius looked at the old woman with a confused gaze and then cautiously sniffed the collar of his shirt. Karwyn looked oddly surprised.

"Clothes? But we can't pay you back for anything," He said, with a look of concern. Grandma waved her hand at him.

"That's fine, we'll take your slave labor as payment," She said, finishing her plate of food. Kirielle smirked slightly.

"Hey wait, what am I gonna do?" Narcius said, looking confused. Grandma walked over to him and ruffled his hair gently.

"Jeb said he'd take find something for you to do. Said he likes workin' with you," she said affectionately. "You're about the only one that can keep up with that man's mischief." For some reason this made Narcius smile, though he didn't exactly know why.

"What are you so happy about?" Kirielle said, looking at Narcius curiously. Narcius shook his head, still smiling faintly at the thought of being able to spend some time with the old codger.

"Nothin'."

* * *

"Hey, you keepin' up boy?" Jeb called back to Narcius, who was beginning to lag behind badly. Narcius looked up, hefted the pack up onto his back, and hurried forward.

"Of course I'm keepin' up, you old codger. You think I'd let a guy like you wear me out?" Narcius asked, smiling faintly as they walked. Jeb quickened his pace a bit to spite the boy, but was surprised when he caught up and kept pace.

"Tryin' to wear an old man down, the nerve," Jeb muttered, stopping to wipe snow off the ice below them. He smiled and sat down. "Here's a good spot"

Narcius dropped the bucket onto the ice and shivered with a sudden gust of wind. "Mind tellin' me what we're doin' out on a lake in fifteen below weather, codger? Besides freezing our butts off."

"Just doin' a little bondin'," Jeb answered, clearing a wide circle in the snow. "Me and Angie never did have any kids, so havin' all of you around is kinda nice."

"Eh? So we're surrogate kids?" Narcius said, watching the old man cut a hole in the thick ice. Jeb chuckled lightly and slammed his heel down into the circle he'd cut, knocking it loose.

"Kinda, you don't mind do ya?" Jeb said, smiling at Narcius. Narcius smiled back automatically.

"Nah, not really. Kinda weird to adopt a bunch of people you found sleeping on the side of the road though, isn't it?" Narcius asked looking down into the hole. He was becoming highly doubtful that anything they did that day was going to be moderately useful, but he didn't mind much. Wasting time was one of his favorite things anyway.

"Ah, doesn't seem that odd to me. Maybe you guys just haven't run into a lot of nice folks in your life," Jeb said, shoving a stick into Narcius' hand. It took him a few seconds to realize it was a pole of some kind. It figured the old timer wanted to bond over fishing.

"Yeah, well that's the truth," Narcius mumbled, copying Jeb's baiting technique best he could. A short curse escaped him as he stabbed himself with the hook, and Jeb handed him his pole while he went to work baiting the one Narcius had.

"You wanna talk at all?" Jeb said, handing the freshly baited pole to Narcius and taking his own back. Narcius watched Jeb dip the line into the hole and then followed suit

"'Bout what? I'm no expert but it looks like we could be here a long time before anything interesting happens," Narcius said, making Jeb reach over and pull the knit hat on the boys head over his eyes. "Hey!"

"Well, how'd you kids all meet up then? Your brother there is blonde, your sister a brunette, and your redder then a beet. You guys don't even match skin colors, so that makes me think you all come from different place," Jeb said. Narcius looked at the old man for a second or two.

_'Old Codger notices more then I thought he did,'_ he thought, before sighing.

"Got me there old man, we did all come from different places. Dunno where Karwyn came from, but Kirielle and I came from different regions surrounding East Heaven," Narcius said, playing with his pole a little bit.

"So tell me about, who was this guy that brought you all in?" Jeb said, smiling a little bit. Maybe he thought their parent had been a bit like himself. Narcius smirked a bit.

"To tell you the truth, he was kinda scary..." As Narcius gave old Jeb a severely condensed version of his past, he found himself remembering just how exactly he had met Ruecian...


	8. Second Tool Found

**Note: Yep, this chapter sucks. Sue me. XD The point of the 'puzzle' was to somewhat prove that Narcius isn't really stupid. If he were, then I think he would have been blown sky high a while ago.**

"Hey! Get a move on kid, before I rip you a new one!" A small boy stiffened slightly, then wheeled around. The boy was pale with messy red hair and dark eyes. Around his neck he wore a pair of goggles he was using to double as safety glasses, and his clothes were worn and slightly bigger then they should have been. He spotted another red head walking away, rubbing the back of his head.

"You and what army, numb nuts?!" He yelled at the back of the teen's head. This statement was rewarded with a large object flying through the air, which narrowly missed the boy and the table sitting next to him.

"Oi! You wanna blow us sky high, you idiot?" The boy yelled, glaring at the teen who waved at him, apparently unconcerned with the child's warning.

"Yeah, yeah, tell someone who cares," he grumbled, heading out of the room and leaving the child to his work. The boy fumed, his face going steadily redder until it was hard to tell where his face ended and his hair began. He turned around abruptly and grabbed a vial of black powder.

The southwestern regions of East Heaven had been going through times of upset since... Well, since anyone could remember really. Bands of hoodlums were always challenging each other for power, and when the King finally decided to get off his rump and send people to get care of it things really got nasty. The boy had heard rumors of a masked man and a child destroying bands of rogues and, quite often in the process, who towns in the name of the King. The man was known as Doll Master and the boy... Well, he had a name, he knew that. They were suppose to be able to do some amazing things.

Well, God help them if they came here, that was all he had to say about that. The boy scooped a small amount of the black powder out of the vial and added it to a small container. On top of that he gently poured a what looked like rock on top of the powder. At least that dunderhead always called them rocks.

"Maybe I should have him make these baby's next time... Bet the jerk would blow himself sky high by jammin'em all in at once," the boy mumbled, adding some zinc and more powder before capping the mess and sticking a wick in it. He sighed and turned away from the table, putting both hands on either side of his head.

"This is so BORING!" He yelled at the ceiling, making a little bit of dust fall from the rafters. He sighed and removed the goggles, rubbing black marks around his eyes. His clothes were, by now, thoroughly coated with different powders of a highly explosive variety and he suspected that if he were to wander past an open fire he'd level everything within a twenty foot radius. He was tempted to try it, but he liked living more then the idea of a glorious, burning death so he passed on it.

He ran to the door, pulled it open, and tried to run out the door, only to plow into another person. He rubbed his head and looked up, seeing a tall brown haired woman. She grinned at him.

"Got those fireworks made, short stop?" She asked, patting his head companionably. The boy scowled and waves his arms around his head.

"Knock it off! I'm six, not five!" He said, looking utterly offended at being patted and called 'short stop.' The woman laughed.

"Right, right," She said, putting more weight down on the boy's head. He squeaked and scrambled out from under her hand, rubbing his head and cursing quietly.

"Yeah, they're done, they're done," He finally said eyeing the door behind her. "Mind if I go? I don't want to be a party pooper or anything, but I think if I stuck a fuse to my head I'd pass for a festival firecracker."

The woman laughed and gave him a little push towards the door, giving him a playful swat when she thought he wasn't moving fast enough. "Go on then, but be careful out there. While the rats are away, the guards will play."

The boy nodded and headed out, turning the phrase over in his head as he cautiously headed for the town gate. _'While the rats are away, the guards will play.'_ Clever. He broke the meaning of it down in his head.

_'Rats'_ here typically meant hoodlums, or any other kind of person deemed unsavory by society which meant that it also included the mentally ill, the homeless, a different people in the lower class.

_'While the rats are away.'_ That one was easy, it was a reference to the times when it was actually calm on the streets.

All together now. _'While the rats are away, the guards will play.'_ It meant that it was the times when things were quiet that alone _'rat'_ should be careful, because if all is quiet on the homefront then the _'guards'_ will more then likely be having their own fun. And they might make you a part of it. It was a warning in puzzle form.

The boy slipped out of the town gates and grinned. It was a good puzzle, but ridiculously simple. She'd have to come up with some new ones soon, he was getting bored with her current material. The boy ran down the path towards the river, ready for a quick, albeit it freezing, bath and then bed.

Reaching the river's edge he cautiously pulled his foot from his boot and stuck a toe in. Screw freezing, if he jumped in there now he'd be a popsicle by the time he got out. He sighed and looked at his dusty, dirty clothes. Maybe he could do something else to clean up?

Kneeling down he tried to focus his naturally unfocused mind. It was like fighting an uphill battle, but after a few seconds he thought he could do what needed to be done and he hit the earth. With the blow he released a small amount of kinetic energy, and using that he began to gather other, more reactive kinds of energy. The unfocused energy gathered itself together and formed a ball, which took only minor tweaking to turn into a bomb.

The boy grinned and picked it up. He hadn't told anyone in the gang about what he could do, since he was sure that doing so would either label him a freak or stick him in the front lines of fights. Neither idea was appealing, so the boy kept it to himself. It was really kind of a nice thing, since most of the dust on his clothes was always volatile, high energy crud anyways.

He sighed and threw the bomb into the water. He clenched one fist like he was holding an invisible switch and raised it in the air. One. Two. He flipped the 'switch' and the resulting explosion threw water some twenty feet in the air. The boy, who had been far enough away to be safe but still pretty close to the water, was soaked by said water and had to drain his shoes before heading back to town.

He growled lowly as he walked, his shoes making a faint squishing sound as he walked, when the ground shivered. A deafening roar reached the boys ears, and before it was over he knew what it was. He was, after all, a bit of a bomb enthusist, wasn't he? Well... Maybe more then a little. The boy stopped his mumbling and grumbling and broke into a run.

He hadn't made any bombs that size. With some of the idiots in their group, doing something like that was suicidal. That meant someone with magic, someone with half a brain, or someone with no brain at all was creating something highly explosive and setting it off in town. He didn't like that idea.

He stopped outside the gates, smelling smoke and seeing flames against the night sky. He put both of his hands on the door and shivered. He may have been a 'rat,' but he wasn't stupid. Not in the least. He knew which groups did what, and he knew what guards did what and no one, -no one-, had ever pulled a stunt like this. He pushed the door open slowly, and slipped himself inside.

The scene was horrific. He knew that the small town they lived in had been going steadily downhill, was one of the worst in the region, but bad enough to do this? Buildings were burning and people, it didn't seem to matter whether they were guard or rat, were bolting down the streets like hell hounds were after them. Several people were already down, and somewhere in town there was screaming.

The boy shrank back into the gates, staring at the madness in front of him. Every street born instinct screamed to run, get out of there, 'take the money and run' so to speak, but everyone else was running, and it didn't seem to be doing them a bit of good. It took a few seconds for his horror struck mind to process that he **was** standing in front of the town gate, and by then he had seen something else that occupied his brain.

A boy, maybe a year or two older then him, was walking steadily down the street. Several things were odd about him, and this was what kept his attention. The first was the boy's coloring.

He had, to a point, somewhat tanned skin but his hair was a dark blonde. No one in the region that he'd seen had that kind of coloring except foreigners, and what foreigner would be out here in the dead of night with this kind of chaos reigning?

The next thing was the fact that the boys eyes were closed, yet he had no trouble navigating around the bodies and flames around him. It was like he could still see everything with perfect clarity even though he wasn't using his eyes.

The last thing he noticed was that the boy was walking. Not running, but **walking** through this chaos of smoke and blood like it was another day in the park. And this boy was walking towards the only other boy in the area.

When the paralyisis broke, running was no longer an option. There just wasn't enough time to run, because that other boy was less then ten feet away and something about him made warning bells go off. A few seconds later he knew why.

The blonde haired boy rose his hand, less then five feet away from the boy, and he was suddenly **lifted** into the air like someone had stuck a hook in his pants and hoisted him up. Once he was floating there the boy rose his head to 'look' at him, almost curiously, before slowly closing his hand into a fist.

Instantly he felt as if someone had squeezed the air from his lungs and he started choking and gasping. He clawed at his throat and mouth, searching for what was preventing him from breathing, but found nothing. Spots danced acrossed his vision.

_'It's him! The man in the mask and the boy... They're here!'_ He thought, opening his eyes and looking down at the blonde haired boy. The boy tilted his head slightly while he 'watched' him struggle, like he had pulled the wings off a fly and was now watching it struggle to fly.

_'No way,'_ He thought, shutting his eyes tightly. _'No WAY am I gonna die here.'_ He rose his own hand into the air and focused. His oxygen starved brain screamed in protest as he began to concentrate and then swung his arm downward. He didn't have the will left to make any specific bomb, so instead he sent the energy towards the ground and hoped it would do what was needed there.

It did. With a loud bang the energy went off and the blonde haired boy screamed. He fell and hit the ground, gasping and sucking in great gulps of air. He climbed quickly to his feet, shaking slightly, and looked at the blonde haired boy. He was now somewhere around fifteen feet away and looked like he had no idea how exactly he had ended up so far away.

The blonde haired boy turn his head back in his direction and then he remembered. Psycho Master, the boy's title was Psycho Master. Psycho Master seemed to be considering him warily, his face cut from the last 'bomb' which hadn't been a bomb so much as a crudely fashioned landmine. The boy backed away again, scared he'd be lifted back up off the ground and subjected to another bout of asphyxiation when he heard it go off.

There was a shrill shrieking sound and a nearby house went up in flames. He recognized the sound as a bomb, more specifically one of **his** bombs, going off in all it's glory. Psycho Master turned his head towards the sound and that was all he needed.

He hit the ground and this time the energy gathered into a more definite shape: a spike ball. With little to no control over where the deadly thing went he dropped it. He thought he might have had him, but Psycho Master moved swiftly out of harms way and once released the ball broke back up into energy.

The boy turned and ran then, terrified. He turned a corner and could hear Psycho Master in hot pursuit, their feet hitting the pavement nearly in unison. He tried to run faster, but his weakened legs couldn't do it. He tripped and fell, hitting the pavement hard.

Psycho Master stopped short and looked at the boy, then he walked over and turn him over. He'd cracked his head on the stones and knocked himself out. He stoof back up and studied the boy. He was interesting. He had managed to make explosives out of ambient energy, and had some idea how to place them. Maybe he wouldn't have to kill this one, and that would be a relief.

He was beginning to feel funny when he killed, and it wasn't all that enjoyable at all. He sent a silent call for his Master and sat beside the boy to wait...

* * *

"If you haven't lied at all, Karwyn, then this boy may be an asset to me."

"I didn't lie, my Lord. I promise."

"You better not have." He began to stir, hearing the conversation as if from far away.

"He strong, but I don't think he's fought that much before," he heard a voice say. Blonde hair. It was the blonde haired boys voice, that Psycho Master. "All he knew to do was defend himself, and then he ran and hurt himself."

"What makes you think he's of use to me then?"

"He will be, I know he will. Besides, he's still very young. He can be taught differently." He didn't like where this was going, at all. He began to concentrate, and felt someone step on his hand.

"Ow! Hey!" He opened his eyes and stared into a masked face that froze him with fear. Unlike Psycho Master, his perception of the man was limited to sight and memory. The man looked, to him, like one of those heathens you saw in books. The kind that painted their faces for war to scare their enemies into thinking they were demons. If it were a competition, he thought this guy would have won the cigar.

"Looks like you weren't lying Karwyn, this boy can channel ambient energy," he said, removing his foot from the boy's hand. He didn't move, couldn't move, for fear of his life. Psycho Master sat on the ground beside him, eyes still closed but undoubtedly watching him.

"Boy," Doll Master said, studying him with amber eyes. "Can you do what Psycho Master claims you can do?"

The boy stared into his eyes, scared to death. On one hand, he would probably die if he told this man that he couldn't do what 'Karwyn,' or whatever his name was, said. On the other, he'd probably be forced to do some awful things if this guy knew. Either way, tonight was going to reach a whole new level of 'This Sucks.'

When Doll Master kneeled down to see if he was still conscious he lashed out with his arm, making the man jump back from him and Psycho Master, or Karwyn, or who ever he was secure him down with that weird power of his. He fought and huffed and puffed and screamed but it did no good. He was stuck fast to the ground and hadn't even managed to give Doll Master a good thrashing. This had definetely reached a whole new level of 'This Sucks.'

Both boys jumped when Doll Master laughed, since they'd both suspected a painful death was on the horizon. Instead he motioned to Psycho Master to let him up and then lifted the boy onto his feet.

"Maybe he could be useful, he has a fighting spirit," Doll Master mused, looking the boy over again. "Boy, now your name is Narcius, do you understand?"

The boy was taken aback. Narcius? He was naming him? What about the horrible death he was sure was coming? "I already have a name!" He protested loudly. Doll Master nodded.

"I know, I just gave it to you."


	9. The Thaw

**Note: Yeah, burnout... I'm gonna play the game a few times and see if anything comes of it.**

"Kirielle, watch where you're poking that- Yeow!" Narcius swatted Kirielle's hand away and moved about five feet away from here. Kirielle stood up, needles stuck to a pin cushion in her hand, and glared at him and Narcius returned the glare ten fold.

"If you'd stop hopping around, maybe I wouldn't stab you so much!" She snapped, brandishing a pin at him. Narcius winced slightly and rubbed his side. Kirielle was attempting, for the first time, to fit others for their clothes. Karwyn had been fitted first, and now it was Narcius' turn.

"I don't think my hopping around matters much, you were stabbing me before that. That's why I started hopping around, to dodge the pin!" He snapped back, eyeing the pin in her hand.

"I did not! Are you saying that I decided to stab you and not Karwyn? He didn't make a sound the whole time!" She yelled back. Narcius snickered a little bit.

"Him? Give me a break, he doesn't count. He probably wouldn't even blink if you shoved three of those things in his neck," Narcius said, crossing his arms and then uncrossing them with a small yelp as another pin stabbed his arm. "Geeze Kirielle, how many of these things did you use?"

"As many as I needed," she answered, walking over and studying how the clothes fit now. "Alright, take'em off and then you're free to go."

"Oh, well now that I have **your** permission," Narcius grumbled, walking past her to go to his room to change. Kirielle sighed heavily and began gathering up the materials she had been using to fit her brothers. Grandma would sew the clothes later when she got back from buying groceries, since she had to admit there was no way she could sew. Her stitched were always huge, like wide gaping toothless gums. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Do you need help?" Kirielle shut her eyes and mentally nailed herself to the floor. After a moment she took a breath and let it out slowly before turning around. Quiet as a mouse, as always.

"Maybe Narcius is right and we should put a bell on you," She said lightly to her brother, seeing him seated nearby. She set down her items and stared at him, noting that his normally calm and serene face seemed agitated. "What is it?"

"I need to discuss the possibility of leaving, maybe as soon as the snow thaws, with you and Narcius," Karwyn said quietly, studying the floor as though something in the grain work interested him.

"Leaving? What do you mean leaving?" Kirielle said, almost sitting down on the needles and pins in her shock. They were so happy here, so why was he saying they needed to leave? "We can't leave, not with Grandma and Jeb here, no way!"

"Kirielle-"

"What's goin' on?" Narcius said, walking in on what could have turned into a very bad argument. Kirielle looked at him, face quickly filling with fury.

"Karwyn says we'll need to leave my winter's thaw!" Kirielle cried in outrage. Narcius' face mirrored Kirielle's.

"What? Why?" He said, turning to look at his brother. Karwyn sighed, he had expected they would get upset but still...

"Because East Heaven has begun putting posters up with our faces and a bounty on them, that's why," he answered genially, looking from one false sibling to the other. Narcius blinked and stared at him.

"They've done what now?" He asked, unable to believe it at first. Since when had Maya been able to figure out anything more complicated then a peanut butter sandwich? "Who's the genius that gave her that idea? Son of a..."

"Posters? You mean that they have posters with our faces, maybe out **names** out there with prices on them?" Kirielle asked, her face paling a few shades. Narcius let out a funny chuckle.

"I bet I'm worth more then you Kirielle," Narcius said weakly, leaning against the wall and chewing his lip. Kirielle didn't retaliate and they all stood in silence, each of them knowing what the posters meant and no one wanting the address it. Karwyn finally spoke.

"We'll need to work very hard during this next month to make up for the loses they've suffered by taking us on," Karwyn stated gently. "If we can we'll try to find some way to stay in contact, but staying here for much longer then that is out of the question."

Narcius and Kirielle stared at the ground with twin expressions of grief while Karwyn continued to study the floor. He could, to a point, understand their pain. The elderly couple had been, after all, the first and only people to accept them so completely into their lives. But still, hadn't they known that this day would come?

"...Well this sucks," Narcius finally said, breaking the silence. "I was really starting to like that old codger too." Kirielle laughed bleakly and managed a smile.

"Yeah, but it's much better then having Mint or Maya or any other of those dunderheads marching in here and making everyone's lives miserable," Kirielle said, trying her best to sound positive. Narcius smiled some.

"Let's get to work, I have a feeling an old codger's gonna pop in here any minute to ruin our bad time..."

* * *

The month passed by far too quickly it seemed, and soon snow was melting. Kirielle sighed and pulled on a heavier jacket before heading out. They'd be leaving soon, she knew that they would, but that was still a few days off. Right now they were still living at the Inn, and they were still Grandma and Jeb's workers.

Kirielle walked outside and then straight for a small grocers nearby. They had been running low on supplies for a while now, and Kirielle thought that she had enough of her own money to pay for a few things. It was the least she could do. She pushed open the door and headed inside the store.

"Hey Kirielle, you're just in time," She heard a voice say from just below the counter. She smiled and walked over.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked, watching the man straighten up and set a box on the counter. He was an old, grizzled man with leathery skin and salt and pepper hair. He looked nothing like Jeb, who was still fit and strong in his old age. Rather, he was shrunken and had a look about him that suggested a strong wind could knock him over.

"I always know when it's you Kirielle," he answered, removing a pair of round spectacles from his eyes and smiling. "You're the only one that walks in without hesitating. Everyone else seems pretty sure that I'll be kicking the bucket soon. I'm glad that my age doesn't bother you so much."

Kirielle giggled. "I've known people much older then you sir, so it just doesn't seem like a big thing to me."

"Call me Khan, Kirielle, everybody else does," Khan said, replacing his spectacles and smiling. "Now what is it that you want? I don't think you came to keep an old man company."

Kirielle handed over a small list of supplies and waited while the old man measured, wrapped, and stacked the things she had requested. They talked to pass the time.

"Anything interesting happening?" Kirielle asked, studying a bolt of frilly cloth.

"Oh, you haven't heard yet? It's the most incredible news..." Khan trailed off, his concentration on the bag of flour he was slowly filling. Kirielle giggled.

"Well don't leave me hanging, come on, what is it?" Kirielle teased, making Khan look up at her for a few seconds with confusion.

"What is..? Oh, oh!" He said, finally regaining his train of thought. Kirielle chuckled and waited patiently while Khan regained his bearings.

"Yes, yes, most incredible news. Best I've heard in a while." Kirielle let her gaze wander over to the window and smiled a bit. The next words she heard, however, froze her heart.

"The princesses of East Heaven are coming to the Elphesia Ruins! How wonderful."


	10. Running Again

'How wonderful.' Well, that was one was to describe it. Kirielle quickly excused herself, and after asking Khan to have someone deliver the parcels, she bolted out into the clear day. The princesses? Here? Of all places, why here?! Kirielle began heading towards the Inn and stopped. Narcius, he had been running errands for the old couple. What if he ran into them? Kirielle turned and ran down an alley way. 

What was it he had been doing? She racked her brain for an answer, but it eluded her. It played around the corners of her mind like a word that escaped ones grasp. She stopped and looked around before choosing another path and running.

She wasn't worried about what would happen if Mint and Maya found her. She could always shift and run away, but what would Narcius do? Probably try to blow them sky high. Yeah, that'd be subtle, and it'd be just like him. She ran faster.

"Narcius?! Where are you?!"

* * *

Narcius stood with his back pressed against the wall, close to panicking. He could here them talking, laughing, and even whispering from where he was. It was only dumb luck that had kept him from being caught so far. 

"Mint? Do we even know what we'll be looking for?" He could hear Rue saying, sounding slightly perplexed.

"Of course I know what we're looking for Rue! We're looking for the relic!" Mint declared in her take-no-prisoners voice. He'd forgotten how annoying she sounded. Wait, a relic?

_'Just our luck,'_ Narcius thought, sliding down the wall a little with the hopes that he might be able to use other objects to block his view as he scuttled away. _'We get out of one mess involving a relic and manage to land ourselves in another.'_

"No dear sister, I think he wanted to know what the relic might look like." There was Maya, just as bossy and snobbish as ever. Narcius began to slowly move away from the group, hoping that no one would notice him.

"No, but that didn't stop us before! We found the relic just fine then!"

"Dear sister, the relic was floating on top of a fountain of crystallized energy. Only a fool wouldn't have known what it was!"

"Shut up Maya!" Stomp, stomp. "We'll find it! And when we do, I'll rule the world!" He thought he heard Maya mumble something. "Oh shut up, it'll be a piece of- HEY!" Oh crud, caught! Narcius began to focus and then realized they were still talking. Letting out a slow breath he began to listen carefully.

"Where Klaus and Prima go? They were here a second ago."

"They went to go get us rooms at the Inn, didn't you hear them talking about it?" Narcius snuck away. It was going down hill, **fast**. Time to pull up roots and move. Take the money and run. Get the heck outta dodge. All of the above underlined three times with an exclamation point. He began to run towards the grocers, and felt a hand wrap itself around his arm and another cover his mouth.

He tried to yell, and began concentrating when he heard a voice.

"Narcius! Shut up, it's me." Kirielle? He turned and saw his sister, white faced and frightened, but otherwise fine. He resisted the sudden, mad urge to hug her. Hand in hand the two crept towards the Inn, dodging out of sight and finally coming to a rest in the alley beside the Inn.

"Is he still in there?" Narcius asked quietly, sitting behind a few storage barrels. Kirielle nodded, chewing on her lip. Narcius sighed and stood up slowly, looking for any sign of the group. He dropped back down at the sight of Prima, breathing a soft curse. "He's on his own..."

* * *

Karwyn moved to one of the backrooms of the Inn without really knowing why. He had been sweeping when he'd simply put the broom back where he'd found it, walked to the back room, and shut the door behind him. He walked to the door and carefully pressed his ear to it, listening for any kind of disturbance that was out of the ordinary.

"Is anyone here? Hello?" Oh, a customer. Karwyn reached for the doorknob and stopped. No, something was wrong. He wasn't sure what but...

He shut his eyes and let his mind stretch a little. He could see two people in the front room, a boy and a man. They looked very familiar... He snapped open his eyes and took a step back. The Doctor and Prima Doll, they were here. But why? After a few seconds the answer came to him and he nearly hit himself. The Elphesia Ruins, of course, the man spent more time with his head in piles of artifacts then he did breathing.

"Do you fellows need help?" Jeb was out there now. He wasn't sure yet just how good a thing that was yet. He sighed and stretched his mind further. Outside he could feel Narcius and Kirielle, giving off waves of fear that made his stomach turn over. He passed by them, out towards the square, and stopped. Rue. Mint. Maya. He could feel several others, but none that concerned him nearly as much as these three. Why were **they** here?

"Yes, could we get a few rooms please? Um, about four?" He could hear Klaus ask.

"Four? You got a pretty hefty group there fellow," Jeb answered. The sound of a quill against paper. "Yeah, sure, I can get you four rooms. Hey Karwyn!"

Karwyn pressed his lips together in a firm line. This was not good. If Klaus knew their names by now, then they would already be discovered. He heard a long period of silence, and then-

"Huh, he must of gone out to look for his brother and sister. No matter, I'll get yer bags for ya." Oh thank God. He could here papers moving, bags, and then a short silence.

"Oh yes, could you put those up here maybe? Princess Maya has been circulating them throughout the regions."

"These? Who are they?"

"They're posters for three traitors. They've been gone for a pretty long time, but Mint and Maya are still trying to get them... What's wrong? Do you recognize any of them?"

Karwyn felt as if someone had splashed cold water on him. Those posters. They should have left sooner, probably about the time they had begun hearing about those things. Now they were caught, and it was probably his fault.

He heard Jeb inhale slowly. "Seen'em? Nah, not these guys. Looked kinda like some kids I knew, but they're not these people." He heard the papers being set down. "I'm sorry Mr. uh... Klaus, but we don't have any place to put posters like these."

"Not to worry, we'll find some other place for them."

Karwyn leaned back against the wall beside the door. Had Jeb simply not recognized them? No, that couldn't be it. They all had very distinct faces, Narcius' being the most easily recognized out of them. There was no way he couldn't spot him at least out of those posters. So why?...

He heard a few polite goodbyes and then a door opened and closed. There was a moment of silence.

"Karwyn? You there? He's left if that's why your hidin'." Karwyn opened the door and stepped out, looking cautiously over at Jeb. Jeb almost looked sad.

"It was all of you, wasn't it? You're not all siblings, you're all traitor of the East Heaven Kingdom," He said, looking almost betrayed. The thought that he may have betrayed this man made Karwyn feel oddly guilty, but the feeling lasted only momentarily.

"I'll find Narcius and Kirielle, and we'll be gone as soon as possible. I'm sorry if we've... inconvenienced you in anyway," Karwyn said, turning away from Jeb and heading towards his room. He needed to pack, they all did, and get out of here as soon as possible. The feeling of a hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

"Go find your friends and bring them back here. Go to your room and wait there. You can't leave here right now, that guys family is probably out on the streets right now explorin'. Do you understand?" Karwyn nodded and, to his great relief, felt the hand remove itself from his shoulder.

"Get going then." Karwyn left immediately, blinking out of sight and reappearing beside Narcius and Kirielle. Kirielle jumped and Narcius rose his hand to attack, then they both stopped. Narcius reached over and tapped the back of his hand experimentally, then exhaled with relief.

"Geeze, don't scare us like that. We're stressed enough with the two royal pains and one annoying pauper," Narcius grumbled, relief clearly shown in his mock anger. Karwyn didn't reply and simply grabbed both of their hands and teleported them to his room. Narcius sat down where he appeared and Kirielle sat down on the bed. Karwyn went back to the wall and leaned against it, feeling suddenly tired.

"So, I guess we all know they're here," Kirielle murmured, staring at her feet. Narcius sighed quietly and flopped onto the floor. Karwyn puzzled silently over what Jeb had said.

"I think we're safe for the time being, but we need to get ready to leave. Do either of you know why they're here?" Karwyn asked, turning his attention on his siblings. He gave an internal pause to the way his feelings for them had changed, but dismissed it quickly. There wasn't any time for that kind of foolishness right now.

"I heard," Narcius offered immediately. "They're here to go look for another relic. Well, Mint is, I think everyone else might be there for damage control."

"There's a relic here?" Kirielle asked, looking surprised. "Why haven't we heard anything about that?"

"Because we've been busy painting, fixing roofs, and digging wells," Narcius said with heavy sarcasm. "Why do you think? We haven't been looking for one!"

Kirielle shot Narcius a glare, and then cut it short when Karwyn glanced at her. They were all quiet for a few moments before Karwyn spoke again.

"If there's a relic, then I'm afraid things may change drastically. Mint's one goal is world domination, and if she perceives us as a threat then we won't be able to hide anymore once she gets a relic," Karwyn said, and after a moment he added, "I don't believe it would be beneficial for **anyone** if Mint got a hold of a relic."

"So... What do we do? Get the relic before she does?" Kirielle asked, looking both worried and excited. It had been a very long time since they'd done anything that was potentially life threatening, and no one could deny the fact that such things made you feel alive.

"Sounds good to me, but... what would we do with it once we find it?" Narcius asked, sounding perplexed. Karwyn shook his head slightly.

"It doesn't matter and we can figure that out once we find it, though I suspect we'll need to find a new place to hide it," Karwyn answered, looking at his siblings.

They both seemed excited, and suddenly very animated. Narcius was tapping his nail against his shoe, and Kirielle kept fidgeting as if she couldn't stay still. They were excited, all of them were. Even Karwyn had to give a faint smile at the idea of doing something so similar to their past duties.

"Well, works for me," Narcius said, grinning. "It's getting boring around here anyways."

"I agree. It might be kinda... relaxing doing something like this after so long," Kirielle agreed, smiling with something close to happiness.

"Alright then, we'll leave and head for the ruins as soon as possible," Karwyn said, stretching his mind again. He could feel Jeb approaching his room. "That may be very soon."

Jeb opened the door and sidled in, looking worried and sad. Kirielle and Narcius gave Karwyn identical looks of questioning to which Karwyn nodded. Yes, he knew. Both siblings looked at the ground, suddenly ashamed. Jeb stood there a moment, as if he didn't know what to say to them.

"Jeb," Narcius said suddenly, glancing up. "I'm, I'm sorry old man. I-" Jeb held up his hand and smiled slightly, stopping Narcius' words cold. He put his hands in his pocket and thought a moment.

"So I guess Karwyn wasn't kidding when he said you'd be leavin', huh?" Jeb asked, looking at the group. Each of them looked away from him and he chuckled quietly. "That's no problem, didn't think you'd be stayin' long anyways. Not a bunch of scruffy kids like you. My only question is where are you goin' now?"

"We'll be going to the ruins," Kirielle answered, looking first to Karwyn who nodded. "We need to take care of something there."

"Uh-huh, and then where are you goin'?" Jeb asked, watching the group expectantly. When no one answered, he laughed. "Figures you haven't thought that far ahead. No matter, you can all come back here if you like."

Kirielle and Narcius looked away, wanting to believe that was true but knowing it wasn't. Karwyn shook his head.

"It isn't that we wouldn't like to come back, because Narcius and Kirielle would like that very much... I would like that as well," he added, after a moments hesitation. "However, with Mint and Maya here, that's just out of the question. We would become a severe inconvenience to you and Grandma if we returned here."

Jeb sighed and nodded, "I expected that kinda answer from you. Oh well, tried my best." Jeb looked at the group again. He knew that by all rights they were adults, and yet something about them always struck him as childlike. Maybe it was that strange need to please others, or that need to be accepted. Yes, that was it. That need to please and be accepted.

"Well, I'll get some things for your trip then," Jeb said, turning back to the door. Kirielle looked up suddenly.

"Oh no, we'll be fine. You don't need to-"

"Oh, I doubt you'll be fine, unless you think 'fine' means half dead in some snowy ditch somewhere," the old man said, making Kirielle's face go a dark red.

"You kids'll leave in the mornin' I suspect. I'll leave a bag of supplies near the door with your things. Be sure to get up early though, you don't want to run into those princesses or her friends," Jeb said, opening the door to leave. Karwyn looked at the man.

"Why are you helping us?" He finally asked, unable to piece together any suitable reason for why he would do something that was so dangerous for him and his wife. Jeb gave him a simple smile.

"I got my reasons, just be outta here by tomorrow morning."

And they were.

**Note: Well, there. Another chapter that I have no clue how to use...**

Oh yeah, I did try to put 'relic' in brackets but I kept losing the right one every time I saved. Ah well.


	11. Relic Hunting

**Note: EXTREME OOC-NESS FOR A BIT! The OOC shows that they're a family thought :)**

The Elphesia Ruins were huge, sprawling over a large area of woods and plains. What were once tall, glorious buildings had been reduced to little more then rubble by time, wind, and weather. The once strong stone roads were now merely broken pebbles that laid between weeds and dirt. There was ruin and beauty everywhere, and the dirt seemed to lament the loss of its once proud heritage.

It was an oddly fitting scene for the three siblings who were wandering down its paths. Kirielle stared at everything with a curious fascination while Narcius complained nonstop about aching feet and a rumbly belly. Karwyn listened to them both with some level of amusement, Narcius complaining and Kirielle asking questions he had to remind her he didn't have answer to.

They set camp somewhere near the entrance to the ruins. Narcius built a fire, Kirielle got the beds ready, and Karwyn kept a look out. He could hear the two of them bickering, working off the nervous energy that had settled in them throughout the day. When Karwyn had shaken them awake that morning they had snapped into consciousness, as if they had been waiting for him to come for a while.

The bag Jeb had left beside the door contained food, blankets, a knife, and matches. So far they hadn't found a need for the matches, since each of them could produce a flame if needed, but they kept them around just the same. It was, after all, perfectly plausible that they may need them if they all fought until they hadn't any energy left. The knife they had used already to fix their evening meal, and Kirielle was now laying out the blankets for each of their beds. It felt odd, so similar to the day they had left Carona. They had had, at that time, little less then the supplies that Jeb had given them.

The biggest difference between now and then was that they were all in good health, and that they all shared a little bit of trust now. they had, to a point, trusted each other before but now it was different. Now they were more like a family then partners in mass murder and betrayal. It kind of felt nice knowing they were not alone anymore.

"Hey, what's the rotation?" Kirielle asked, sitting down on her blankets. Narcius looked up from poking the fire and shrugged slightly.

"Dunno, how about we just wake the person that's been sleeping the longest up when we start getting tired?" Narcius asked, looking over at his other two siblings. Kirielle grinned and nodded her agreement, and then blinked as they heard a strange sound. They both looked to Karwyn who had covered his mouth and was making the odd sound.

"Dude... Are you okay?" Narcius asked, looking concerned. Kirielle bit her lip worriedly. The only time she had ever heard him make that sound was when they had first arrived at the Inn and then he had been half dead. Karwyn removed his hand and she saw a trace of a smile there on his face.

"I'm sorry, but I think that's probably the least thought out plan we've had since this trip started," Karwyn said, forcing the smile to leave his face. Kirielle and Narcius continued to stare at him as if he had sprouted another head. "...What?"

"I didn't know you could laugh," Narcius said, with such blunt honesty that Kirielle started laughing. Narcius looked at her and blushed, turning his pale skin red.

"Well... he never does it! So how was I suppose to know..." He trailed off when he heard Karwyn laughing and after a few seconds joined in. After a few moments everyone calmed back down and Karwyn, by a unanimous and silent decision, took the first watch.

* * *

"Man, how big is this place?" Narcius grumbled, after several hours of walking. They had, several times, stopped to rest but Narcius still insisted on complaining. Kirielle suspected he was just trying to draw attention to himself and Karwyn knew for a fact that he was.

"Narcius, stop complaining. You wandered around East Heaven for longer then this," Karwyn said after another hour of complaining. Narcius promptly shut his mouth, but every once in a while both Karwyn and Kirielle could here a mumble of complaint. Kirielle was about to reach over and smack him when Karwyn grabbed them both by the shoulder and steered them out of sight.

"Hey, what-" Narcius reached over and covered Kirielle's mouth. She shot him a glare, and the blinked as he held one finger to his mouth and then pointed back to the path. Mint, Maya, and Rue were all walking down it, oblivious to the former Masters that had been walking it moments before. The three watched the group from the safety of their hiding spot.

"Dear sister, shouldn't we wait for Klaus and the others? Even if we find something, we'll have no idea how to use it without him," Maya said, still holding the tattered remains of the Book of Cosmos as she had been so long ago. The book had gained a rather pathetic look since it had lost its power, and they suspected that Maya kept it with her to use her own magic, the way Mint had her gold hoops.

"Quit worryin' Maya, if we find somethin' we can always bring it back," Mint answered, waving one of her rings at Maya. She giggled and jumped up and down excitedly. "A relic! Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on it!"

Maya sighed, looking as though she might steal the relic just to make sure her sister didn't get it. Kirielle covered her mouth and giggled silently.

"Hey, what's that?" Rue said, pointing at something on the ground. The two sisters wandered over, and Mint picked it up. She was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"Looks... Kinda familiar. Do we know anyone who wears pink gloves?" Karwyn and Narcius both looked at Kirielle, who had suddenly become very red and very quiet. Karwyn sighed silently and looked back at the group while Narcius glared holes into Kirielle's head.

"Pink?" Maya repeated, staring at the glove. "I seem to remember someone wearing gloves like that but..." Karwyn stretched his mind out towards them and slipped inside of Maya's mind. He searched and found the memory she was attempting to call forth. With a simple thought, he placed the memory in the back of her mind, where it would probably remain for some time until it unburied itself.

"No, no, I'm sorry but it seems to have left me," Maya murmured, looking disappointed. Karwyn quickly withdrew, feeling slightly ill. Kirielle and Narcius relaxed slightly as the group continued walking. They had taken Kirielle's glove with them, maybe hoping to run into someone to return it to.

"Kirielle! What were you doing with that thing out?!" Narcius hissed as soon as it was safe, making Kirielle jump a little. She looked won, her expression one of humble humility.

"Well, my hands were hurting and I was worried we'd need to climb some things so I, eh, was deciding to put them on when you spotted them," Kirielle looked at the ground. "I-I'm sorry."

Narcius tried to look mad, but couldn't quite do it with his sister looking so ashamed of herself. Instead he sighed and looked down the path that their enemies had gone.

"Think they'll find anything?" Narcius asked, glancing over at his siblings. Kirielle looked up.

"Well, we're here to try to make sure they don't, aren't we?" She asked, apparently trying to recover from her blunder. Narcius smiled, and Karwyn nodded.

"We'll need to split up. That way we can cover more or equal ground," Karwyn said, walking back out onto the path. To Narcius he said, "Go west," and to Kirielle he said "Go East."

Both siblings nodded and took off without a moments hesitation. Karwyn waited until he could no longer feel their presence and then headed North, in the same direction as Rue, Mint, and Maya. As soon as each Master was a safe distance away from their starting point, they began searching.

**Note: Yes, it's a horribly short chapter, I know. However, it happens to be 5:41 A.M. here and I haven't slept yet, so I don't much care :P**


	12. Searching the Elphesia Ruins

**Note: I'm not sure what it's like to pass out, since I've never done it before. Is this realistic?**

**P.S. I think I'm officially nocturnal now. Ha ha ha!**

**P.S.S. Yes, Kirielle's past memory... thingy sucks, I realize this. However, I can't think of anything better... Or rather, I'm too lazy to think of anything better. Heh heh heh...**

Kirielle searched the East half of the Elphesia Ruins, still feeling incredibly ashamed of herself for nearly giving away their presence. A few years ago she could sneak into any place, become any person, and steal information with no one the wiser. Now it seemed she couldn't even find a decent hiding spot without leaving something behind.

"Maybe I'm getting rusty," She mumbled, climbing up on top of a stone to look around. The rough edges cut into the tender flesh on her hands, making her wince. By the time she made it to the top her hands ached and she smiled a little. "Shows how much I've toughened up I suppose."

She scanned the area from her new vantage point, taking in the crumbled rocks and dilapidated buildings. She saw, far off, what looking like some sort of tomb. That was as good a place to start as any. She kneeled to hop down, and saw red hair. She stumbled and nearly fell. Which one was it?!

She heard some mumbling and much talk of a relic and world domination. Mint. Now she understood why they had split up, just in case those three did too. She hopped down from the rock and shifted, her muscles stretching and bones popping. A saber tooth stood where she once was. Just in time too.

"Lovely relic, beautiful relic, wonderfu- Whoa!" Mint jumped in surprise at Kirielle's new form. Kirielle sat down and then lowered herself onto the ground like a lazing cat. Mint calmed down a little bit and edged warily around her.

"Nice kitty... Good kitty, pretty kitty," Mint murmured, keeping her eyes on the false feline at all times. Kirielle almost giggled. Mint looked so worried that she'd disturb her, it was almost flattering in some odd way to think she looked so scary and strong. She raised her head and yawned, making Mint squeak and scurry away. Kirielle shifted back to her human form and began to laugh once Mint was a safe distance away.

She stood up, still giggling, and remembering the first time she had met the princess.

* * *

Saber Tooth, Bubba, Pollywog, Behemoth, Human. Saber Tooth, Bubba, Pollywog, Behemoth, Human. She went through the rotations faster and faster, trying to keep each form whole and unchanged by the others. Faster. Faster. Faster.

"What are you doing?" Human and Saber Tooth forms clashed together and made a strange looking child with oversized, over sharp teeth, a tail, and fur. She looked up, angry at whoever it was that had decided to interrupt her practice. A man reached over and seized her by her newly acquired tail, pulling her along as he walked. She let out a feral cry and quickly got to her feet to walk. She was slightly hunched.

"I told you not to do that, you unnatural wretch!" The man fumed as Kirielle tried to figure out just how badly mutated she was. Her feet were feline and her fingers short. Her ears had moved up higher on her head and seemed pointed. She probably didn't look all that great. After a moment she began to shift again, trying for human form.

He must have felt her bones shift because the man turned around and hit her in the back of the head. Light seemed to fade and then come rushing back and small pink lights danced before her eyes, like glitter falling from the sky. Kirielle stumbled, but kept on her feet.

"Don't do that! You'll only shift when we tell you to," The man snapped. She growled lowly at him, but he didn't seem to care. He had been excited for a while about being able to see the royal family, or some such nonsense. The man placed her in a cage, like some common animal, and closed the door. As soon as it was safely locked she shifted to human and glared at him.

This man had found her as an infant, shifted into the form of an animal. He had assumed that she was an animal that had some sort of odd shape changing ability, and treated her accordingly. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed, watching him walk away talking about 'entertaining' and other such things.

She looked around at the other animals, smiling now that she was alone. A black pollywog chomped at the air several times before sticking out its tongue. A guado began to spin until it collapsed. She knew they were going crazy from their captivity. **She** was going crazy it seemed. Her thoughts were growing darker as more time passed and she was beginning to feel that she would do anything, **anything** for her freedom.

She remained in the cage for a long time, feeling movement when she was moved and hoping that soon she would be let out. She passed time by shifting and trying to escape from her cage. She knew that she would fail, but she did it anyways. She was hopeful.

First she tried a small shape, a mouse, and attempted to work her way through the bars. It was useless. The bars were thin and sets close together. They were also incredibly strong, so much so that she no longer attempted to break the cage by shifting into a larger form. It only resulted in her suffocation and then unconsciousness. Instead she took the form of a Guado and blew fire on the bars. Nothing.

She went on like this for hours and eventually fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

"Wake up!"

The voice was a painful screech the jolted her to consciousness. She sat up, shaking her head slightly. The man pulled her from the cage and began to lead her away to get cleaned up. She washed, dressed in new clothes, and braced herself. She heard the announcements. Heard herself being referred to as a new creature. Heard her opening. She walked out and began to entertain.

_'So this is the royal family,'_ she thought as she shifted from form to form. There was one exceptionally fat man who seemed to be the king. He laughed and pointed with his eldest daughter, who seemed to have inherited his darker skin and robust nature. Beside the eldest daughter was her younger sibling, who more resembled her mother. She had fair skin and smiled delightedly at the display.

Close by was a man in a mask. The mask chilled her to the core and made her hair stand on end. It gave him a permanently maniacal look, like a mad man. Beside him were two boys a little older then she. The younger one seemed bored out of his mind, and the older... the older didn't have a look at all. He may have been sleeping standing up for all she knew.

She shifted to a Saber Tooth and produced a loud, rolling roar that shook the walls and rattled windows. The youngest daughter shrieked and ran to her mother, while the eldest laughed all the louder. How strange that two siblings could be so different. She shifted again, to a Bubba, and each of her steps made the room shiver.

She began shifting faster. Once again it was Saber Tooth, Bubba, Pollywog, Behemoth, Human, Saber Tooth, Bubba, Pollywog, Behemoth, Human. She went faster and faster, slipping smoothly from one form to the next. Her muscles screamed, her bones popped and protested each shift she went through, and she felt a scream try to creep into her throat.

She slowed, and finally shifted to human, exhausted. It was sooner then it should have been, but her body wasn't able to stand up to so much changing yet. She needed practice, which she was being denied. She felt herself being led back out of sight, she heard clapping, and then she felt a faint tingle within her mind. Before she could examine it she was struck for not finishing her performance. Dark thoughts entered her mind again and she bit her lip to keep from snarling at the man.

She wanted to kill him, she wanted desperately to kill him and be free. She went into her cage and sat down, waiting until the man left before she flopped back and cried out in frustration.

"I'm not an animal, I'm a girl! I'm a girl! I'm a girl!" She shrieked, pounding her fists against the bars. She grit her teeth, glaring at the floor, and heard a chuckle. She looked up and saw the two boys standing there, looking at her.

"You know, he might actually believe you if you didn't act like this," the younger one said, looking almost amused. The older one said nothing and continued to watch them. No, that wasn't right, his eyes were closed. Maybe he was blind or something. She turned her back on them both and stared at the bars in front of her, refusing to speak anymore.

"You're not an animal. Your consciousness is too sophisticated," She heard a quieter voice say. That must have been the older boy. She heard someone approach, and then next time she heard the voice it was right behind her.

"If you really want to be free then stay awake tonight. The lock will come off at three A.M. It's up to you what happens from there." She sat still as the two left, the younger one heckling the older, asking what that was all about. She sat in her tiny prison, staring at her toes.

_'It's up to you what happens from there.'_ Oh, she knew what would happen from there. She knew exactly what would happen from there.

The next day the man that had kept her under lock and key was dead and she was a servant under Doll Master. She was free, and she was twelve years old.

* * *

_'Funny, she looked so innocent back then,'_ Kirielle thought, heading towards the tombs and smiling a little. She picked up her pace and began to run, hopeful that she might be able to find something relating to whatever relic resided in this place.

* * *

_'Man this place is big,'_ Narcius thought, looking around the dank room. He was standing inside of what may have been the remains of an atelier. He said 'may' because there didn't seem to be enough stuff left behind to really tell.

The room was large and circular with only two or three distinguishing features. The first one was the odd, diamond like pattern made up of tiles on the floors and walls. The second was a large, stone desk places squarely in the middle of the room. Behind that, was the third item that made this room stand out from other places in the ruins. A large, moth eaten tapestry hung on one wall. Barely visible was the visage of a girl, holding a book and smiling. The face was vaguely familiar, but from where he wasn't sure.

The eyes were closed, and the girl was smiling. He hair may have been white, it was difficult to tell, and a little bit of her hair hung in her face. She was wearing some kind of dress with long sleeves. He stared at it a moment, trying to place the face, but eventually gave up and began searching the room. Well, maybe ransacking would be more appropriate.

After fifteen minutes of 'searching,' he found some moldy looking books. Narcius opened them and frowned, understanding nothing within the pages. He sighed and set them on the desk. He could remember Ruecian getting after him a lot for shirking off his studies, but he never though he'd be right about any of it coming in handy. Surprise, surprise.

"Well... shoot," Narcius mumbled, looking at the books with an expression of distaste. He grumbled a little more and turned to look at the tapestry again. Why was it so familiar?

It took a long time before it finally came to him. The Ghost Temple had a guardian with two, sometimes three heads. He could remember it from the time he'd gone in to gather puppets. One of the heads looked exactly like this girl, the one that always had its eyes closed. He looked at the tapestry and frowned.

The Ghost Temple was all the way in Carona, so what was a guardian residing there doing with the face of this girl? He puzzled over it a little bit before finally giving up and grabbing the books. He didn't think he'd left anything behind, but he'd come back and check a little later. Just in case.

He cast one last glance back at the tapestry and then headed out, books in hand.

* * *

Karwyn could only hope his siblings were doing better then him. He had been searching for a while now, but it seemed like no matter where he went someone else had been there before him. He didn't necessarily believe it was Mint, Maya, or Rue who had been there first, but many places had been stripped bare. It made searching very frustrating.

He headed to a new building, careful to make sure that there was no one near by as he did so. He paused for a moment. He kept thinking he could feel something, as though there were some half awake consciousness somewhere. Every time he tried to examine it though, it vanished. He didn't like it, but at the same time he was relieved it wasn't one of the princesses or Rue that he was sensing.

He began to search, ever cautious of discovery. This place appeared to be a workshop of sorts. The tools used there were long gone, but vials and containers of spoiled ingredients still remained. He pulled open what seemed to be a cabinet and nearly slammed it shut again. It seemed to be filled with human limbs!

He took a closer look and relaxed again. No, it was not human limbs. It was, however, full of doll parts similar to the puppets they had used to distract Mint and Rue so long ago. Reaching in he pulled out one of the arms and studied it.

The arm was slender and sleek, distinctly feminine and graceful. The hand was also slender, and the fingers were long and straight. The joints in the fingers, wrist, and elbow were the only thing that gave away its true nature. He placed the arm back in the cabinet and closed the door. It was somewhat unsettling to hold, even if it wasn't real.

The workshop took on new meaning. It had been used to produce dolls, or maybe puppets. Only a handful of magicians and Aeons had done this, since the finished products normally only worked half of the time. Prima Doll had been, by most standards, an exceptional success in this sense. He had had his own set of emotions and the desire to unseal Valen's Fortress. Most of all though, the fact that the doll was still operating, still **living** of its own accord that made it such a success. After all, he was a tool that was outliving his original purpose and gaining a new one. It was an amazing thing.

He went to one of the worktables and began searching. Here things had been spilled everywhere, probably from overzealous treasure hunters. He pushed several broken bottle aside and began gathering what he could. Notes, mostly though there were a few books. After a few moments, however, he discovered something a little more interesting.

It was a silver circlet. The silver had been twisted into a knot-like pattern and the middle contained a dream stone. It had been hidden within one of the books, which was probably the only reason it had been left behind. He examined it for a short moment before placing it on top of the notes and continuing his search. Besides a few left over valuables, he found nothing else that was useful. Leaving the valuables behind, he picked up the notes a circlet and headed out.


	13. The Atelier

**Note: 5:39 A.M... Yeah, I'm pretty well nocturnal now. I'll need to take care of that soon. Anyways! I'll be trying to finish this up in a few weeks, what with college and everything. Toodles!**

"What is this place?" Kirielle murmured, walking around inside the tomb. Well, she had thought it was a tomb anyways, now she wasn't so sure. There was a raised platform in the middle of the room, with eight or so stairs leading up to it. On the platform, there seemed to be a coffin. She had, out of a horrible sort of curiosity, checked to see if it was empty. It was, luckily.

She looked around the rest of the area. The building was shaped vaguely like a cross, or so she guessed by the shape of the interior room. The building was stretched in equal proportions in four directions: North, East, South, and West. On each wall facing these directions was a strange sort of design that seemed vaguely familiar. Magic?

She shrugged to herself. Whatever magic that had lingered here had dispelled years ago, that much she knew for certain. She looked back at the strange coffin in the middle of the room, noting the water which poured out its sides and down the steps. The water collected in a small channels, one for each point of the building, and was taken away somewhere. She crossed her arms and frowned.

These designs, the water, the coffin, what was it all for? Had something of importance been left here? She began to call on the teachings she had learned as a child.

Water was commonly used to purify things, and the water was being drawn away... Or was it being drawn up towards the coffin? She growled lowly, trying to figure it out. Why was the coffin empty anyways? It was like whoever was in it had woken up, gotten up, and then just...

"...Walked away," she whispered, looking up at the coffin. Maybe, that was -exactly- what had happened. Could this place be where a Doll of Valen had been hidden? It would make sense then, all of these things. The water would be going up, into the coffin, to nourish the doll. But then were was the doll? Probably awakened, a long time ago by the looks of it.

_'So, there are dolls here in the Elphesia ruins too. Why does it feel like the past is trying to catch us?'_ She wondered, turning away from the coffin and heading out. The sky was already darkening. It was time for her to be heading back, to start looking for her brothers. She cast a single, backwards glance at the tomb, shifted, and was gone.

* * *

"It's talking about a duck, right?" Narcius asked, craning his head to look at the book Karwyn was now reading. Kirielle looked up from the book she had had her nose buried in, and sighed. Sometimes he could be so childish...

"Narcius, back off for a while and maybe we'll be able to figure something out," Kirielle said, giving her younger sibling a slight glare. Narcius plopped himself down beside the fire and groaned with boredom. They had been reading and translating for almost an hour, and Narcius had nothing to do to pass the time other then try to figure out what that circlet thing was for. He still wasn't really sure what is was for, but he knew it was suppose to be used with something else.

"...No, it is not talking about a duck Narcius," He heard his Karwyn say after a few moments. He shut the book and looked Narcius. Narcius winced slightly at the look, at the subtle annoyance in his eyes. "You'd know that if you used the time you spent complaining, studying."

Narcius looked away and huffed. Kirielle giggled and looked over at Karwyn, who seemed satisfied with the sudden silence. He set the book aside and waited for Kirielle to finish reading. Fifteen minutes later, she was done. Narcius sat there and stared at them, his silence was unnatural for him but the look in his eyes was screaming every question he wanted to say. Kirielle waited a moment, enjoying the silent torture, and then began to speak.

"While I was out searching today, I found a tomb that may have contained a Doll of Valen. It looks like whatever doll was contained in the tomb woke up some times ago though," Kirielle said, looking into the fire. Both brother looked up, interest perked.

Kirielle continued, "I'm not sure, but there may be more tomb like that. Tombs with Dolls in them. I saw other area that looked similar to the tomb I had visited, anyway." Narcius tilted his head slightly to the side, like an inquisitive dog.

"How many do you think there are?" He asked, a look of curiosity on his face. Kirielle looked down at her hand and tried to recall. After a moment, she held up two fingers. Two more tombs.

"Also, the book that I translated was apparently some sort of work journal for whoever lived here. It's... kinda weird really. I don't know if I'm getting all the words right but it keeps talking about some kid that died. Whoever lived here seemed pretty set of bringing them back, but it failed from what I can gather," She said, patting the book in her hands. Now Karwyn began to speak.

"This book seemed to be full of designs, many of them for Dolls and Puppets. It seems he had been trying to make a Doll in the image of his lost child, but even after he managed to perfect the image of them and implanted the proper personality, the Doll changed and became someone separate from their child. He apparently deactivated the Doll after the change became too much for him to bear," Karwyn said. He picked up the circlet.

"This was something used to activate the Doll when it was first made, as far as I can tell. I don't think it will be useful to us though. After all this time, the Doll has probably been damaged. I'd be surprised if we even managed to find it," He said, setting the circlet down on top of the book. Karwyn and Kirielle now looked at Narcius expectantly. He started talking.

"In the same room I found those book I found a tapestry. It looked kinda like a girl, holding a book. She looked a lot like that weird guardian thing from the Ghost Temple. Well, she looked like one part of it anyways, not the creepy skull part or the weird red part. Anyway, it was kinda weird," Narcius said, scratching his temple slightly as he recalled the weird room. They all sat, trying to piece together the information they had just shared.

So far they knew nothing about a relic. Just a dead kid, a Doll, tombs, and Dolls of Valen. All of it was very interesting, but it wasn't the information they needed. Narcius finally broke the silence.

"What do we do if we find a Doll of Valen? I mean, don't get me wrong, Rue and Ruecian were great guys, but I'm kinda burnt out on the whole 'Wake up Valen so he can purify the world' crap," Narcius said, making Kirielle crack up with laughter and Karwyn smile a little.

"We'll leave them alone. I suspect that's why Rue came with Mint in the first place, to awaken the Dolls and convince them to leave their duty behind. It only makes sense," Karwyn said, going through their bag. It was his turn to cook for that night, since everyone, even Narcius, agreed that Narcius shouldn't be allowed to touch a pan unless he wanted to use it to hit something.

"What should we do if we run into one of the princesses, or Rue?" Kirielle asked, her near discovery weighing heavily on her mind. Narcius listened closely, hoping that they'd be allowed to grease'em if they got in the way. Karwyn's answer, however, surprised them both.

"Don't hurt them, don't bother them. If they attack you, defend yourselves, but that's it. We don't want to give them anymore reasons to hate us," He said, removing some vegetables from the bag. Narcius opened his mouth to argue, and was abruptly cut off.

"I know it goes against what we know, but right now we don't have a choice. We're already traitors, and if they add attempted assassination of the princesses to our posters we'll never get a moments rest," Karwyn stated, taking the knife and slowly cutting up the vegetables. Narcius opened his mouth to argue, and found there was no argument there. He sighed and flopped down on the ground, glaring darkly at the sky.

After a few Kirielle began getting out blankets and setting them out to make beds. Narcius, after a few seconds of glaring, stood and began gathering more wood for the fire. An hour later they had eaten and gone to sleep.

* * *

Day two of searching felt a lot like day one, except there was a sense of desperation now. Narcius combed the streets and buildings with vigor. Kirielle found herself transforming into smaller, and smaller animals to reach tiny nooks and crannies if rooms. Karwyn began examining everything, including the wandering consciousness that seemed to drift about, with a new intensity.

Every once in a while, one of them would spot one of the princesses or Rue searching the area with them. Each time they saw them, they carefully avoided them, as though playing a strange new game of hide and go seek. It was a careful process, the hiding and sneaking around taking more time then the actual searching. They finished that day of searching without finding anything new, to their great displeasure.

They set camp somewhere near the middle of the ruins, and slept for the night.

* * *

"Hey! Hey! Look at that!" Kirielle's voice pierced the early morning air and woke Narcius up instantly. He sat up, covering his ears and glaring at his sister. Karwyn stopped clearing out the campfire they had used the night before and looked up. Kirielle stood on one of the remaining walls of a building, one hand shielding her eyes and the other one pointing wildly to the North. Narcius finally stood and climbed up to where his sister was.

"What are you yelling about at this ungodly- Whoa!" Narcius looked across the tops of many broken walls and roofs and saw it. The atelier. That had to be it. What else could it be? Narcius craned his head to see more of the building and nearly fell down.

"What is it?" Karwyn called up to them, patiently waiting for them to climb down and eat their breakfast. Kirielle managed to get down first, with Narcius still trying to find his balance on the wall.

"The atelier! We're so close to it, we could walk there now!" She said, running up and grabbing Karwyn's arm. After a few seconds she realized that she had passed the invisible line and let go. Karwyn pretended not to notice.

"How do you know it's the atelier?" He asked, walking back to where they had slept that night. He began gathering up his blankets and folding them. Narcius jumped/fell from the wall and stumbled over.

"It's probably the only place around here that's still standing. Atelier's are normally pretty sound places, even after a thousand years of Mother Nature pulling every dirty trick she has," He said, plopping down on the mess of blankets that had been his bed before nightfall last night. Karwyn handed him a bowl and Narcius began eating without hesitation.

"Should we head there today? It looks pretty big, so we could probably split up and search the place," Kirielle said, taking her own bowl and proceeding to eat. Karwyn nodded quietly, sitting down and keeping himself alert to the things around them. Narcius made a low sound of frustration and fixed Karwyn with a glare.

"...What?" Karwyn finally asked, looking up at his younger brother. Narcius set his empty bowl down and continued to give Karwyn a hard look.

"Dude, we just found the atelier and the atelier probably contains the relic! You could at least **try** to get excited about it," Narcius said, sounding slightly exasperated. Karwyn wasn't sure what to do for a moment, and Kirielle shook her head at Narcius.

"If your going to ask for a miracle, Narcius, try for one that will actually happen," she said, finishing her meal and setting down her bowl. Narcius sighed and relented, much to Karwyn's relief. Kirielle took the bowls away to wash, and the two boys began to pack up what little belongings they had. Narcius fumed silently the whole time, still not really understanding why his brother didn't just act normal. Well, at least normal for his age.

He was still simmering when Kirielle came back, though the feelings had slowly begun to lessen. His brother had always acted that way after all, even when they were kids. He had been the one to make them come inside and study on sunny days, and the one to chase them back inside when it rained. He had always been there to make sure they did everything they should do, but didn't want to do and he had really hated him for it for a while. He guessed that's what older brothers were for though.

The campsite had been completely taken apart and the campfire had been buried. Karwyn looked in the direction of the atelier and began walking. "Let's go."


	14. Pieces

**Note: ...And now I sleep :)**

The atelier was large alright, but what they had seen sticking out of the ground was just the tip of the iceberge, so to speak. Beneath that tip was a large, sprawling maze of underground rooms and passages. Kirielle was strongly reminded of the Underground Ruins she had gone through at Carona.

They split up, each sibling choosing different levels in the atelier: Narcius taking the topmost levels, Kirielle taking the middle levels, and Karwyn the lowest. They had agreed, more or less, to mark each passage they went through so if for some reason one of them didn't return they would know where to search.

_'Be careful.'_

_'Don't get lost you guys.'_

_'Don't get killed, we don't have enough money for a funeral.'_

They'd parted ways with those words, each of them having more to say but keeping it to themselves. After all, it just wouldn't seem natural to be saying such things to each other and they already knew anyways...

* * *

"A book, a book, another book, a book with a squiggly thing on it," Narcius groaned. After several hours of searching, all he could find was books! He was beginning to suspect there was a library somewhere in the atelier, one that was rather bare. He stacked the books on the floor and left them there, not willing to even entertain the thought of translating the darn things.

He cast another glance around the room. The rooms here in the atelier, he had noticed, didn't seem to have been touched in quite some time. He wondered if maybe treasure hunters had gotten as sick of the books as he was and left. It seemed pretty plausible. He walked around the edges of the room, searching.

The room had stone walls, a strange white floor, and a high ceiling with small orbs of light fastened into the ceiling. He thought that if he managed to get up there, he might find them filled with one form or another of electricity. He had tried to climb up there once already, but had just managed to unsettle a stack of papers and fall down, cussing a blue streak.

Out of the corner of his eye, in a corner, he saw a slight glint that reminded him of light reflecting off metal. He headed over, more out of curiousity then anything else, and picked up the strange shiny object. He picked up a single white glove, designed so that only the tips of each finger were exposed while the thumb remained completely covered. Narcius turned it over and studied the palm of the glove. Stitched into the fabric were odd symbols, very old ones at that. In the middle of the back of the glove was a silver ring and small stone, similar to the ones in the circlet Karwyn had found.

Narcius looked at it for a moment, shrugged, and stuck it in his pocket. It was a heck of a lot more interesting then those books, and maybe it would come in handy later on, to throw at Mint or something as a distraction. She'd go after anything that looked vaugley valuable. After one last glance around, he left the room.

The 'hall' for lack of a better word, outside had many similar lights in the walls as well as the same white floor. The only difference was that now the walls had a strange network of lines going down them that seemed to be channeling water for some reason or another.

Narcius stuck his finger into one of the channels and felt the water flow over it, cool and crisp. He pulled his hand back and licked the droplet of water off his finger. It was pure. He stared at the water, trying to puzzle out why it was there. Maybe it had to do with the-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" The sheer force of the scream nearly knocked him off his feet. He stumbled slightly and turned around, seeing a girl in a purple dress with red hair. She stomped her foot, as if getting ready to throw a tantrum.

"Answer me, Porcuepine Head! What are you doing here?! Are you friends here?! Are you-"

"Shut up already!" Narcius finally yelled, covering his ears. That was another thing he had forgotten, how loud she was. Surprisingly, Mint stopped yelling and gave him a funny look, like she had just gotten a good look at him or something. After a few seconds she began laughing.

"You look like such an idiot! Where did you get those clothes?" Narcius looked down at himself, not really thinking he looked any different from usual, and then realized what that she had never seen him in clothes other then the 'villain' get up. He crossed his arms, frowning.

"Stupid as ever, aren't you? What makes you think we'd be wearing our old clothes when they stand out so much?" He snapped, giving Mint a look of deep contempt. She glared at him, a look of deep hate in her eyes. She whipped out her rings and held them up, as though preparing for an attack. Narcius felt his own arm rising up, and then he stopped.

_'Don't hurt them, don't bother them. If they attack you, defend yourselves, but that's it. We don't want to give them anymore reasons to hate us.'_

_'I know it goes against what we know, but right now we don't have a choice. We're already traitors, and if they add attempted assasination of the princesses to our posters we'll never get a moments rest.'_

_'I hate you,'_ Narcius thought, lowering his arm and waiting to see what Mint's attack would be. If Karwyn had just given him permission to grease this little princess then things would go so much smoother. Mint looked at him, like she was confused, and lowered her rings.

"What the heck? Aren't you going to attack me?" She asked, still studying him. Narcius managed to shake his head no, swallowing his pride and getting an extremely annoyed feeling from it. Mint gave him a look that said she wasn't buying it for a second.

"You gotta be kidding me! What, now are you a saint or something?" She said, swinging her rings around in small circles. Narcius, more then a little sick of her mouth now, began walking away. Maybe there would be something a little more interesting in the next room...

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Mint said yelled, stomping on the ground and running after him. "What the heck? Don't tell me you've grown a heart in the past-"

"Wow you're loud, do you think you could keep it down to a dull roar?" He asked, enjoying how angry she had begun to get. Before she could start yelling, screaming, whatever it was she was planning, he start talking again.

"My brother said not to kill any of you if we ran into you, just defend ourselves," he said, sticking his hands into his pockets as he walked. He could feel the glove there, under his fingers, and he decided not to let the little brat know about it. "If he hadn't said that I would have brought this passage down on your head."

"This is the weirdest story I've ever heard from you. You don't have a brother!" She said, as though pointing out some obvious fact to a small child. Narcius shrugged.

"I do now, and a sister" he said, not bothering to explain. It would bug her out of her **mind** trying to figure out what he meant. He didn't think she'd be bright enough to put two and two together. He was right.

"What the heck are you talking about? Did you get adopted or something," she eyed him for a second. "...You look way too old for someone to want to adopt you."

Narcius felt a retort on the end of his tongue and swallowed it. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Kirielle hummed to herself while she searched. She didn't know why really, but it seemed to take the edge off of her nervous mind and she needed to be a little more relaxed. She kept thinking she was hearing things she knew weren't there like footsteps, whispering, that sort of thing.

She didn't think that anyone else was in the atelier, other then them of course, since there hadn't been any explosions or anything. After all, it didn't really matter what Karwyn had told them, she didn't think Narcius would really do it if it meant getting back at Mint. He could be like that, agree to do something and then just ignoring his promise when it became too much for him to handle.

_'I'm not really giving him enough credit,'_ she thought suddenly, biting her lip a little. _'He's really grown up a lot since we left East Heaven, he finished what he starts now and he actually does his work. Most of the time he keeps his word, most of the time anyway. I can almost say I'm proud he's my brother.'_

She smiled a little. They'd all changed so much, it was almost shocking to think about who they were now compared to who they had been. She wondered what everyone would think of them if they saw them now.

Kirielle headed into another room and looked around. In the middle of this one was some large machine with a walkway around it. The machine was contained within a glass dome that seemed to be eminating energy and magic. Kirielle walking over and peered inside, fascinated. She always wondered how exactly aeons and magicians managed to create things such as this, things that continued working so long after their caretakers had passed. It seemed like they should have fallen apart a long time ago, but they never did.

_'I guess this is like the generator or something,'_ She thought, staring down into the dome of white and blue electricity. _'Maybe this is what's powering this whole place.'_

After a few moments she tore herself away from the sight and began searching the room. She wandered over to a shelf and pulled a few notes down. After blowing the dust off she saw a technical drawing of a Doll. One page showed the basic construction of the hands, feet, and limbs. The second page showed the face, a female it looked like. Her face **did** bare a striking resemblance to the second face of the guardian in the Ghost Temple, it was almost an exact double.

_'Did the guy that made those puppets get his inspiration from this?'_ She wondered. If so, it had been a gross parody of the real thing. The guardians second head had been empty, as though in a deep sleep. These pictures, however, showed a hint of smile on the face even though the Doll was obviously off. She folded the pages and placed them in her pocket, deciding to show them to her brothers later.

She began to head out, and saw something that caught her eye. A small box, just barely hidden under a thick layer of dust. She headed over and kneeled down, cleaning off the box and pulling it from its hiding spot. She shook it slightly and felt something move around inside. There was a soft sound, like a breath, and then it was gone. She held it up and stared at it quietly. Then she tucked it under her arm and headed out of the room with it.

She had just walked out of the room when she heard a short gasp.

"You?!"


	15. The Guardian

**Note: GRAAAA! Lost the entire chapter last night just as I finished it! GRRRRRR!**

**...Stupid computer.**

Kirielle stared down the hall and saw Rue, Arc Edge in hand, staring at her. She nearly dropped the box under her arm in her haste to back up and away from him. Rue continued to look at her with an expression of distaste in his eyes.

_'Guess he hasn't gotten over that whole Claire thing,'_ She thought, smiling a little bit._ 'Oh well, if he does attack I can always change into her and run for my life.'_

"What are you doing here?" Rue asked, still hanging onto the Arc Edge. Kirielle eyed it warily for a moment and then held the box a little closer. She turned and began to run. "Hey!"

_'Sorry Rue, but I'm under order not to hurt any of you,'_ Kirielle thought, hugging the box to her chest now as she bolted down the passageway, searching for a means of escape. There were many places that she could go, but very few that would allow her to take the box with her. She passed them all by, hearing Rue's footstep grow closer to her's as she ran.

She turned a corner, looking back slightly to see how far Rue had gained, and ran into something. It was large, living, and solid. She fell back onto the ground, the box skittering away from her. She looked up and gasped at the sight of a crystalline creature that was raising its arm to strike her. For a heartbeat she didn't move, didn't breath, didn't blink. Then she inhaled slowly and began moving again.

The guardian, or so she assumed that's what it was, turned the ground the had just vacated to rubble. Rocks flew, and some cut her face and hands as she rolled to the side. She didn't care. The instant she had realized she was in danger she had become a Master again, ready to fight, willing to kill. She heard someone calling out, but it was far away now. She rolled to her feet and shifted.

He form was now large, almost taking up the whole passage, with wickedly curved horns and large claws. A behemoth, the strongest creature in her arsenal as a shapeshifter. She charged at the guardian, using her horns to lift the creature into the air and ram it into a passage wall. She thought she had gotten it, until it seized her horns and lifted **her** into the air. It threw her into the other passage wall and she felt her body snap back into its original shape. The sudden shift hurt more then hitting the wall, stealing her breath and cramping her newly formed muscles.

She heard and saw the creature heading for her again and shifted by reflex. A stinger ran away from the thing just as it pierced the place she had once been. She shifted momentarily to human to try to figure out her next move and felt someone grab her wrist. She was pulled backwards and hit the ground hard. She looked up and saw Rue attacking the guardian.

_'Oh yeah, he's here too,'_ She thought silently, watching him attack the creature with his Arc Edge. She looked away and spied the box just a little ways away. She stood up quickly and ran to it, picking it up and turning away. She began to walk away and then stopped.

_' "Why'd you have to go and do something noble like savin' that punk, huh?" '_

She grit her teeth and struggled with herself for a moment, then set the box down. She turned and ran back to the fight thinking,_ 'I'm just returning the favor, that's it.'_

* * *

Karwyn was having his own problems in the bottom most levels of the atelier. It seemed many of the creatures within the atelier had claimed it as their territory, and it made searching fairly difficult. At the moment he was entertaining a somewhat irritable Skull Beast that seemed pretty intent on removing his head. He sighed slightly.

_'I don't have time for this.'_ He ended it, crushing the thing's head with one, well placed blow of psychic power. It collapsed with a small cry of pain and death. After making sure it was dead, he stepped over the corpse and continued on without a backwards glance. He wanted to hurry and finish this level, especially since a little while ago he had felt both of his sibling's heart rates go up.

Narcius seemed to be experiencing extreme stress, and Kirielle had enough adrenaline going through her veins to give a horse a heart attack. He wanted to go and help them, but if he tried to help them now then he ran the risk of losing whatever clues to the relic that were there to whoever might be searching these levels with him. He didn't have any doubt that there was someone there, because he didn't have any doubt that Rue or one of the princesses had also gotten the idea to split up and search the atelier if they had found it. It only made sense.

He continued down the passageway, trying to pick through the presence of other monsters so he could focus on the human presence he kept feeling down here. He was starting to suspect it was Maya, but a the same time he was doubtful she would be so deep in the atelier without someone else to protect her. It just didn't fit, unless she had finally begun to grow up a little while they had been gone. He wasn't sure how likely that was, but he kept it in mind while he searched the passages. Unlikely didn't mean impossible after all.

Entering a new room, he took a moment to monitor Maya's position and was startled. She was going at least twice as fast as he had been going and would soon be at the room he was in. She couldn't have gotten that strong, could she? He thought for a moment, and then bit back a curse. She didn't **have** to be that strong when **he** had already defeated all the monsters in her path. No wonder she was moving so quickly, she didn't have anything in the way to stop her!

He took a deep breath and tried to settle back down, not wanting to 'lose his head' or whatever it was Narcius said. He had to stay calm and think of a way out of this, before Maya managed to close the distance between them and start a fight. Without searching the room he continued ahead, hoping to put a little more distance between them before he had to confront the younger princess of East Heaven.

* * *

"I said give it to me! I command you to give it to me! GRAAA! TRAP MASTER!"

"I'm only gonna say this one more time! My name is Narcius, not Trap Master and no! I found it, it's mine!" Narcius yelled back at the prissy princess who stomped her foot and glared at him. She swung a ring at him threateningly. A short time ago, Mint had noticed the glove sticking slightly out of his pocket. She had decided that she had wanted it, and had been demanding it since.

"Give it up, porcupine head, or I'll beat it outta ya!" Narcius kept walking, feeling more then a little annoyed and frustrated. Of all the things he could have run into, why her? Seriously, he'd have preferred a guardian to that little brat. At least they killed you quickly, instead of subjecting you to this slow brand of torture. Apparently Mint wasn't too happy about being ignored, because she finally made good on her threat to attack him and shot off a round of magic. It was easy enough to dodge, but the attack crashed into one of the walls causing it to shiver, then crumble. Narcius jumped away from it.

"Careful genius, or we'll be buried down here!" He snapped, feeling the ground rumble and then quiet again. Mint looked down at the floor with an expression of fear before settling down again and brandishing her rings at him.

"Just give me the stupid glove!" She yelled, for once not stomping her foot while she screamed. He smirked slightly and kept on going. She let out a loud groan of frustration and then started running. Something about that seemed familiar-

"Ow!" He hit the ground hard as Mint's feet connected with the middle of his back. He felt her try to reach into his pocket and cracked the little witch in the head with his fist. She yelped and jumped away, dancing around and holding her head. He stood up, sick and tired of her mouth and dealing with her. He swung his hand in her direction and directed energy there. Mint must have recognized the motion, because she jumped back with a slightly shocked look. Narcius smiled a little.

"I set traps in the area between us, so if you try to follow me any further you'll be blown to bits," He said, relaxing slightly. "If you keep trying to follow me and steal this glove then I won't be responsible for what happens to you. I did warn you after all."

Mint glared at him with a look of pure hate on her face. He have her a little wave and then took off down the passage way, hoping to put as much distance between himself and the prissy princess as possible. He'd be dead when she found out there weren't any traps there...

* * *

SMASH! Kirielle threw herself against the wall, narrowly missing a blow that probably would have killed her had it connected. Blood was running down one side of her face and staining the collar of her shirt. She wiped it away and charged at the guardian, shifting form as she moved. She choose the form of a Hell Hound this time, breathing fire and ice as she bore down on it. She felt something brush past her and saw Rue attacking the creature as well.

A blade flashed, fire flared, and it **still** didn't go down. Instead it lashed out at both of them, knocking both of them into a floor of the passageway. Kirielle bounced slightly and felt the air leave her lungs. She gasped and choked, struggling to regain the air that refused to return to her lungs. She opened her eyes and saw the guardian standing just above her, arm raised. She clenched her eyes closed again and waited for the blow that would end her life.

CLANG! Wait, that wasn't the way a blow sounded when it connected with flesh. She felt air begin hissing into her lungs and gulped it in, opening her eyes again and looking up. Rue had blocked the attack for her. She rolled over and pushed herself to her feet, looking up at the monster. Did it have no weakness? She took a small back and stared at it. Maybe... they didn't have to defeat it.

"Rue!" She called, turning and running down the passageway, scooping up the box as she went. He hesitated a moment before following her, the guardian in fast pursuit. She turned quickly down another, smaller passage and shifted, hoping Rue would do the same. A Gargoyle took flight, jumping and flapping its wings to glide across a deep hole in the floor. Rue followed, taking the form of another flying creature and landing beside her. The guardian was not so lucky and fell straight through the hole.

Kirielle looked over, down into the hole, and nearly fell in after it. Her muscles felt over worked from all the shifting she had done, and her back was still hurting horribly from hitting the ground so long. Rue reached forward and pulled her back, making her fall back down. She laid there a moment, and then sat up. Her whole body ached, but she felt good about herself for some reason. Maybe because she had helped someone else.

"Why'd you do that?" Rue asked, putting the Arc Edge away and studying her. He didn't look so hateful now, but he did look cautious. Good, that's the way it should be.

"Because you helped me, that's all," she replied, standing up and forcing her muscles to work for her again. She started walking again when she stopped and turned to look at the hole again. Where did it go? Could it go...

CRASH! Where ever that thing had gone, it had apparently just landed. The ground shook and she had to lock her knees up to keep from falling down. She bit her lip, her eyebrows lowered with worry. She shifted again and jumped back across the hole. She heard Rue yelling something, but ignored it and hurried on.

_'Please be careful, brothers.'_

* * *

CRASH! Karwyn stumbled as something large hit the ground up ahead. Dust and air were blown back from the thing's impact, and he coughed as the stuff filled his nose and mouth. He shut his eyes tightly and waited until the air settled before he reopened them. Something had crashed into the ground some distance ahead. He hesitated a moment and then started walking towards it.

Crystalline, large, and very solid as well as very dead after such a long fall. He looked up at the hole it had fallen through and quickly moved on. It was probably best not to idle under a hole a guardian had just fallen out of, something else might fall out behind it.

_'Now I know why at least one of them was so distressed earlier,'_ he thought, wondering just how far the guardian had fallen. It was difficult to tell, since he hadn't actually been there to observe its landing or descent. More then a few levels, he knew that much. He continued walking, until he heard movement behind him. He stopped and turned around just in time to see a flash of movement as the guardian attacked him.

_'How can it still be alive?!'_ He thought, bringing up his arm to ward off the brunt of the attack. He blow connected solidly, but thanks to its long fall the blow was not anywhere near close to fatal. It hurt a lot though. The bones in his arm almost seemed to bend like a sapling in high wind, then he managed to jump back from the guardian and regain some ground. Whether or not his arm had been damaged he wasn't sure, but there wasn't time to figure it out either.

The guardian pulled back for another attack and Karwyn reached out with his mind and held it in place. He could feel it struggling to bring its arm down on his head, but Karwyn didn't let it. Dying would put an awful damper on his future plans, after all. He was about to finish it when he felt something pierce the guardian in the back. He released it with a hiss of pain as the feeling of his own mental defense being broken hit him. He shook his head and watched the guardian collapse on the ground, shivering one last time and then going still. He looked past it and saw Maya, book raised and glowing. She lowered it, staring at the guardian, and then noticed him. He looked somewhat shocked.

_'...Now what?'_ He thought, taking a step back and forcing himself to relax a little.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness," He said out of reflex, watching the princess of East Heaven warily.

**Note: Do do do doooo :)**


	16. The Doll

**Note: TREASON! THE WORD I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR IS TREASON! HA!**

Maya raised her book again, looking frightened but determined, as if she expected him to attack her at any moment. He supposed he deserved it, since he and his siblings had betrayed the whole kingdom, but it didn't make the situation any more pleasant. He stood stock still while waiting for her to decide what to do, since there was little more he could do then that without the fear of being attacked. Maya finally glared at him, apparently finding her anger.

"Psycho Master, what are you doing here?" She asked, keeping her book trained on him as though he might attack at any moment. It was almost funny, she looked at him like he was some kind of attack dog she had to worry about. Then again, he had been that too last time they knew each other...

"Unless I'm mistaken, Your Highness, we should have lost our positions and titles about the same time we destroyed your Book of Cosmos and resurrected Valen's Fortress," He said calmly, as though pointing out some something as obvious and ordinary as a plant just sprouting out of the dirt. She blinked at him and then scowled.

"Either way, why are you here?" She asked, sounding a little annoyed now. Maybe she had been spending more time with her sister, Mint. Karwyn felt around and wished that something would pop out of the passageway and keep Maya busy for a little bit so he could finish searching this level and then go find his siblings. It didn't seem like there was much of a chance of that though.

"My name is Karwyn, and I am here to search this level," He answered, wishing she'd put the book down already. She narrowed her eyes at him and he took a small step back. "Princess Maya, I'm afraid that since I told my siblings that they can't fight your family or friends, I can't either." Now she looked confused, but only for a moment.

"Siblings? You mean Trap Master and Mode Master are here too?" She asked, sounding slightly shocked. Karwyn let out an inaudible sigh, wanting to move on and resume searching again.

"Narcius and Kirielle are here searching as well, yes. We're trying to make sure that Princess Mint does not get the relic these ruins contain. Such a thing would be... very unpleasant for us," He said, looking back down the passage. Maya looked like she was going to say something, then stopped ad looked confused.

"Your eyes are open... Why? Are you planning to attack me?" She said, looking suddenly nervous. He looked at her for a few seconds and then realized what she was talking about. He closed his eyes.

"No, I suppose I've just gotten use to it in the time I've been gone," He said, making no attempt to explain anything. She relaxed a little, but not a lot. She probably didn't believe him. He decided to try to end this as quickly as possible, whether he had made his siblings promise not to fight or not. He began to head down the passage again and jumped back quickly as Maya sent a quick shot of magic in his direction.

"I'm sorry Karwyn, but I'm going to stop you here and now. You're wanted for treason," Maya said, training the book on him. Karwyn almost smiled.

_'It looks like I won't have to break my vow,'_ He thought, gathering his energy and then stretching his mind out towards Maya. He knocked the book from her hand, sending it flying across the passageway where it skidded into a corner. Maya turned around, obviously shocked and frightened. His next strike knocked her hard into the wall behind her, slamming her head back hard.

She stood there a moment and then fell to her knees and forward to the ground. She was out before her face touched the ground. Karwyn looked at her unconscious form and then made a motion towards her. When Maya woke up again, she'd find herself outside and with a very painful headache.

* * *

Kirielle had, just barely, escaped Rue and what she suspected were many uncomfortable questions. She didn't **know** why she had helped him, she just had. It was that simple. She had just felt the indescribable need to help him.

_'No wonder Karwyn hasn't told us why he helped Rue,'_ she thought, hurrying along down the passageway. _'He probably doesn't know either.'_

She finally stopped, holding her side slightly. The box slipped from her grip and fell to the ground, clattering loudly. She gasped and quickly snatched it up again, checking it over for damage. Nothing. She sighed with relief, and then began to study the little box further.

Silver with blue and gold markings on it, but no visible opening for the top. Why? She ran her fingers across it, feelings the engravings and found a space on one side about the same size as a fingertip. She placed her finger in the spot and found the side began to give a little. With a quick look around, she pressed down on the spot, hard. She saw a bright flash of light, and cried out in surprise. When the light cleared, she saw someone lying on the ground. They're face was serene and they bore a striking resemblance to the guardian's second face in the Ghost Temple.

"The doll," she said, recognizing it from the sketches they had looked at. Her feet were bare, and her clothes were very simple and white. She looked utterly human, until you looked at the joints in her body. Kirielle looked at her carefully, snapping her fingers in front of the doll's face and looking for a reaction. Nothing, but perhaps it was incomplete? The glove may help to wake her up, but they would probably need more items then that. The circlet as well? Maybe, Prima Doll wore something similar after all and it was something that helped to complete him.

_'She's probably been damaged by now, but still...'_

She sighed and lifted the doll off the ground. It's skin felt cool, and oddly firm beneath her arms, as though her maker hadn't quite perfected the feel of human skin. She began heading down the passageway again, wishing she hadn't been quite as curious as she had been before. This girl was getting heavy already.

* * *

Narcius had heard Mint scream a little while ago, so he guessed that she had finally figured out that there were no traps. Besides the one on her face of course. He hurried along, hoping to put some distance between himself and the prissy princess before she really started trying to hunt him down.

"TRAP MASTER!"

"I SAID IT'S NARCIUS- oh crud," He mumbled, smacking himself in the forehead. He started running, hearing Mint's footsteps in quick pursuit. He tried to turn a corner and stopped suddenly. Some of the passages, it appeared, were not in as good a condition as he had originally thought. This one, for example, was caved it. He cursed quietly, turned, and got ready to run again when he saw Mint. He stopped._ 'God, do you just hate me?'_

"Give me the glove! I need it for-

"To get the relic, take over the world, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah, yeah I know! You've only been talking about it for who knows how many years! Geez, get a hobby!" He finally yelled, completely annoyed and feeling a little more then harassed. She blinked at him for a second, extremely surprised by his sudden outburst. Then she started yelling.

"You're one to talk! You and Psycho Master and Mode Master and Doll Master all tried to destroy the world and-

"No, that was Valen," He said suddenly, making Mint stumble and lose her place in her screams and yells.

"What?" She said, looking more then a little silly suddenly.

"**Valen** wanted to destroy the world. We just wanted to thank the guy that helped us out," Narcius said, wishing he had a place to run so he didn't have to sit here and explain all of this. Mint scoffed.

"What'd he do? Save your lives?" She said with heavy sarcasm. He almost smiled at how weird it seemed.

"Actually yeah..." He started to tell their story.

* * *

Maya woke back up, outside of the atelier. At first she was very confused, knowing that she had been inside of the atelier and had been searching for the relic, but not knowing how she had gotten outside. She sat up and tried to think. A guardian, yes she could remember that, and someone else. She shut her eyes tightly, and then remember someone else shutting their eyes and apologizing for having them open. She gasped and climbed to her feet.

_'The Master's are in there! I have to tell everyone, I have to warn them!'_ She began to run towards the atelier, and then stopped. Why hadn't she been killed? She was by all rights their enemy and she would have killed him if she were forced to. This didn't make sense.

_' "Princess Maya, I'm afraid that since I told my siblings that they can't fight your family or friends, I can't either." '_

_'...That means that Trap Master and Mode Master won't try to kill us either. They've all vowed it... and I don't think they're people that break their vows,'_ She thought, staring at the atelier. She reached into her pocket and removed a single glove she had found while searching. It had reminded her of Prima's gloves, and so she had taken it in case they ran into anything similar. It was strange that he hadn't taken it from her, but then again he didn't really strike her as a thief. A murderer, a betrayer, sure, but not really a thief.

* * *

Kirielle finally had to sit down and rest. The doll laid on its side, its face still serene and calm. It was getting kind of creepy now, like the face of a corpse in repose. She began to study the design of the doll, trying to keep from studying the relaxed face.

"Maybe a girl made this one..." She mumbled, noticing how under developed she appeared. A flat chest, stick like figure, and skinny limbs. Not all that attractive, even if her face was kinda pretty. "So, this was the kid huh?"

She looked young, but still no younger then sixteen or fifteen. If they really wanted to push the envelope, they might be able to convince someone she was fourteen and a half. She sighed slightly and began to reach for some food she had brought in with her. She knew it hadn't really been long enough for her to be eating, but carrying that kid was hard work.

_'Maybe that's why he was unhappy with her, because she has so many flaws when you compare her to a normal person,'_ She thought, poking the doll's arm. She jumped when it suddenly fell to the ground with a little smacking sound. She then giggled at her own stupidity and set the food aside, sighing slightly. Maybe this kid's bones were made of metal and that's why she was so heavy. Maybe she just ate a lot of sweets before she was shut down. The last thought made her giggle louder.

She covered her mouth, not knowing how close Rue was to her position and not wanting to give him any idea where she was. She pulled herself into a kneeling position and scooped up the doll, walking quickly down the passageway once the doll was secure in her arms. She bit her lip quietly.

_'Next time, I'm taking the top level!'_

**Note: ...I'm tired :)**


	17. Waking

**Note: I'm still tired.**

Mint was quiet, something that was extremely odd after who knew how long of listening to her whine, complain, and moan. Narcius remembered Karwyn telling him to shut up a few days ago while they walked because he kept complaining. Now he understood why he had told him to be quiet, it really got annoying when someone wouldn't shut up. He'd have to remember that for later. Mint suddenly rose her hands in their air, making a 'whoa' motion with them

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm confused now!" She said, looking as if smoke might come out of her ears. "You said that the whole reason Ruecian took you was because you could fight, and he only found that out by killing your whole 'family' or whatever it was! Then why the **heck** did you do what he told you to do?! Kirielle I can understand, but where's your excuse? And what about that weirdo Karwyn?!"

_'Well, at least she's figured out our names now. That's a start,'_ He thought, getting ready to explain this part of the story to Mint for the fifth time. "I told you already, we were doomed before he managed to find us. I probably would have died in a street fight, or managed to blow myself up and Kirielle would have lived her life as a zoo animal until she cracked and needed to be put down. I don't know about what happened to Karwyn, he doesn't talk much about it, but I'm pretty sure he would have died eventually too. We owed it to Ruecian to do what he said."

"But, but!" Mint sputtered, looking as though she was having a hard time getting the words straight. "But you would have died under his care too! You weren't people, you were weapons! He didn't care about any of you!" A part of this struck true, they had indeed been weapons, but the rest did not. He shook his head.

"Last thing he told me was not to die in vain, and that's one of the only reasons I'm not dead yet. I coulda died fightin' Rue in Raging Mountain, but I made a promise and I don't go back on my promises," He said, crossing his arms and looking just a little bit stubborn about what he had said. Mint crossed her arms as well.

"What are the other reasons then, huh?" She asked, her eyes daring him to find a suitable reason. He thought for a second, but not on the reason. He already knew his other reasons, and he wasn't about to share them with this prissy princess. He smiled suddenly and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Guess the other reason is because I just love torturing you!" He said, pulling one hand free and swinging it in her direction. She scowled and snapped, "I'm not falling for that again! You're so- AGH!" A large pumpkin fell on her and Narcius ran past, struggling to contain his laughter as she kicked, squirmed, and cursed beneath the pumpkin.

* * *

Karwyn left the bottoms levels, unable to find anything of worth down there. He reappeared somewhere behind the atelier, away from where he had dropped Maya, and waited. Narcius and Kirielle should be heading out soon, provided they didn't run into Mint and Rue. If they did though, he thought they could handle themselves. Neither Mint, nor Rue was a killer, so he didn't need to worry about one of them dying. If they got captured though, that was a different story. Then he, or one of his other siblings, would have to get the caught sibling free and risk capture themselves.

He sighed and looked around the area, finding the bag they had deposited there before entering. With nothing else to do, Karwyn began to make camp. He hated feeling useless, after all.

* * *

Kirielle tripped and fell, twisting slightly as she went down so she didn't crush the doll she had been carrying. Its head rolled slightly to the side, but there was no loud crunch that meant it had been busted. She sighed with relief and laid down, exhausted.

"Man, where's Narcius when you need him?" She grumbled, feeling the aches in her muscles and bones from the weight of the doll. Narcius was, physically anyways, the strongest out of all of them. While Karwyn could probably beat them all hands down in a battle with their abilities, if it was a skin fight Narcius would probably be the winner. It was something she accepted grudgingly, since it gave him an edge when it came to doing stuff like this. She had considered shifting over and over again, but if she ran into that guardian thing again she'd want to have some strength left. She sighed a peered down the passage way.

"I've about reached the end of this place, I should probably head out," She said quietly, standing up and hefting the doll back into her arms. It hung there like a dead body, making her sudder slightly. She was used to making dead bodies, not carrying them. She started to head out, careful not to trip over any small objects in her path this time.

* * *

Narcius was now far away from the princess, and at the end of his level. He stared at the dead end, visibly disappointed, and kicked at a stone. "Aw man... Now what am I supposed to do for fun?" He grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets and sulking a little bit. He knew he was being childish, but he wanted to get it all out of his system before he had to go back outside around his siblings. If Kirielle knew the kind of fuss he was putting up now, she'd probably tease him for who knew how long.

After working all his fuss out he sighed and headed back towards the exit. Maybe he could mess with Mint a little more on his way out. Maybe make a trap of demon pumpkins to chase her around...

* * *

The Masters gathered in their campsite, Narcius and Karwyn appearing empty handed while Kirielle lugged the doll along with her. Narcius was the first one to spot her, and he headed over with a wave. "Hey Kirielle, what took so-" Kirielle promptly dumped the doll into his arms and walked away.

"She's your burden now!" She cried, heading over to her bed and flopping down. Narcius stood there for a second, and then dropped the doll in shock. It tumbled to the ground and laid there, still and silent.

"What the heck?! Where'd you manage to find a corpse this fresh Kirielle?!" He yelled, wiping his hands off disustedly. It had felt so **weird**, was too smooth and firm, and way too heavy. She glared at him and Karwyn walked over for a closer look. After a moment, he said, "It's not a corpse, Narcius. It's a doll, similar to Prima Doll."

"Oh, well that's not so bad," Narcius said, settling down and looking at the doll. He noticed the hands and wrists and sighed with relief, looking much calmer then he had moments ago. "Where'd it come from?"

Kirielle made a sound of frustration. "It was East Heaven Express, WHERE DO YOU THINK IT CAME FROM!?" Karwyn edged away from his sister and Narcius looked like he might hide behind his brother or use his as a human shield if Kirielle decided to explode at them. After a few seconds of silence, Karwyn looked at them both.

"I've set up camp so all that's left is for someone to hunt and someone to find firewood... I'll let you two decide who does what," He said, quickly moving away from them. Narcius glared at the back of his head as he walked away. _'Traitor,'_ he thought, turning back to his sister. She at least seemed to have calmed down a little bit.

"I'll look for firewood, you get whatever it is we're going to eat," Kirielle said, standing up and walking away. Narcius didn't argue, he just got up and was thankful his head wasn't on backwards. When he came back with their meal, Kirielle had already set a pile on firewood close by and was resting on her bed. _'She must have been carrying that thing for a while to get so tired,'_ he thought, handing Karwyn what he had caught and then heading to his bed. The doll lay silent on the ground, and Karwyn approached it again as he waited for their food to cook.

_'...Is it.. Awake?'_ He wondered, feeling its consciousness stir and probe around itself. I was like standing beside a sleeping person who was searching their dreams. He looked over at Narcius, who had also been eyeing the doll with curiousity, and then at Kirielle who was also watching.

"Let's get the things we have and put them on the doll," he said quietly. "She doesn't appear to be damaged, and if she has still retained her memory then we'll know that much sooner where the relic is." The two nodded and Kirielle went to retrieve the circlet while Narcius pulled out the glove he had found. Kirielle carefully set the circlet on the doll's head while Narcius struggled to put the glove on her hand. After a few moments of fighting with it he handed it off to Karwyn, who easily slipped the glove onto the doll's hand.

After a few moments the doll's appearance changed slightly. Color entered the once pale face and the doll began to breath regularly, simulating life. The mind had changed as well. Karwyn could feel it suddenly become much more alert, like a person who was suddenly paralyzed the doll could not move but was conscious of what was happening around it. He suspected the circlet had done that, since it was closest to the mind, but what had the glove done? He looked down at her hand and saw it moving a little. That was all?

"Aw man," Narcius mumbled, looking at the doll with disappointment. They didn't have enough pieces of the doll to make it capable of speech. They'd have to gather more.

* * *

Maya, Mint, and Rue sat around their own campfire: Mint grumbling about pumpkins, and Maya and Rue sitting in confused silence. They'd each run into a Master, and they had each escaped (mostly) unharmed. After a few moments they put the situation out of their minds and began to pull items out to examine. Mint had something like a shoe, as did Rue, and Maya had one glove. The items had seemed very odd and they had gathered them all out of a kind of instinct they had gained in Carona.

"They kinda look like the things Prima Doll wore but... they're too big to fit a child," Maya said gently, picking up the glove and studying it. The symbols, the gem, the way it looked, she thought that there was a good chance it was used to complete **some** kind of doll, but what kind?

"I thought only Grand Magician Elroy made dolls, why's there one here?" Mint asked, looking confused. Rue shook his head slightly, focusing on the shoe he was holding. It was tan with the same gem and design on it. "There were some similar creatures in the Ghost Temple, but they were very badly made. More like puppets then dolls."

Maya nodded, putting one finger to her lips in thought. "Elroy worked closely with his two apprentices, Yordaf and Ginema. That's probably why you found things similar to dolls there. However, I don't think any of them did any work here, they may have studied here, but never worked here." Rue looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking.

"Maybe Elroy **saw** something here that gave him the idea to make Prima Doll, and Yordaf decided to try his hand at it too, but his were incomplete," Rue suggested, looking over at Mint and Maya for their opinions. Maya looked as though she could agree with the idea, Mint looked at him like he was nuts.

"You mean they studied here, saw some weird doll and decided he'd like one running around his atelier too? That sounds so stupid," Mint said, making Maya reach over and smack her in the back of the head. "Do you have a better idea then? Hmm?" She didn't.

"Let's all go to sleep," Rue said, before the siblings could tear into each other. After a general agreement, they all bedded down for the night.

* * *

_It's so quiet. They must have gone to sleep a while ago, because all I can hear is the fire crackling somewhere to my right. No, wait, someone must be awake. I can hear the fire being stoked, the flames getting hotter suddenly, and new crackling. Someone is awake, keeping the fire going so that there will be coals in the morning. She could remember doing similar things before she had fallen asleep._

_Was she asleep now? She felt someone inside her mind again and retreated from it, heading into the deeper darkness that was sleep. Who was out there, and who had awakened her again? What was going on...?..._

**Note: Da da da da daaa... I'm kinda hungry. Anyway, dunno where this is going -at all- so bear with me please :)**


	18. Danger Lurking

**Note: Working on ending this one. Wish me luck :)**

**P.S. I am so mean to Karwyn :)**

**P.S.S. OH NOES! Power went out! :(**

The next morning Kirielle was in much higher spirits, which was a huge relief to Karwyn and Narcius. It had been an agreement for years that it just wasn't wise to get on the bad side of someone that could turn into you and do who knows what. A servant had made that mistake once before and Kirielle had destroyed his reputation as a 'tough guy' within four hours. She had actually made the guy cry in public. Since then, both brother had learned to avoid her when she was in a particularly bad mood.

"Do you think that the princesses and Rue have the final pieces for this doll?" Kirielle asked, motioning to the doll which continued to lie still and nearly motionless on the ground. "I mean, we've probably searched that place top to bottom, and unless some treasure hunter got them..." Narcius listened for a little while and then grew bored. He started poking the doll's gloved hand, watching it curl up and relax with each prod. After a few seconds, Karwyn saw what he was doing and reached out with his mind. Narcius was instantly paralyzed, tumbling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

_'Hey!'_ He yelled/thought. After a few seconds of struggling, Narcius gave up attempting to move or talk and sat inside himself grumbling. Karwyn turned to talk with Kirielle as if nothing at all had happened. "I believe that they might, there's no other logical explanation. That could be why Mint was so adamant about having Narcius' glove," He said, glancing over at Narcius who could suddenly move again. He sat up, brushing himself off and glaring at Karwyn who didn't seem to care all that much.

"So how do we get the other glove and stuff hot shot? Go over and ask if we can borrow them?" Narcius said with heavy sarcasm. To his surprise, Karwyn gave him a small nod. Kirielle and Narcius stared.

"...You have a better idea, then?" They didn't.

* * *

The air was more then a little tense as they cleaned up their camp area and prepared to leave. Kirielle was quiet, Narcius wasn't complaining, and Karwyn seemed to be talking just a little bit more as they got ready. They knew, just by this, how worried they all were about how it would go. After all, while no one had attempted to kill them it had become very clear that they wanted to capture them; probably to stand trial at East Heaven. There was no way they could stand trial, they'd be eaten alive and if Mint got a say in their sentence, maybe literally.

Narcius picked up the doll, feeling its limp body hang there in his arms, and shivered. He still couldn't get over how dead she looked, even if she was breathing and had some color now. He made a sound of disgust and tried to keep the doll as far as possible away from himself. "Creepy thing," He muttered, unable to get over how cold the thing still was. Karwyn sighed, sounding a little exasperated, and took the doll from him. Narcius smiled sheepishly and took their bag from Kirielle, who smirked slightly.

Karwyn shifted the doll until he could hold her comfortably and then waited for his two siblings. As soon as they began to follow him he started walking. He prodded around the doll's mind and was surprise to find himself blocked out, unable to access what the doll was thinking. _'I didn't think she was that alert. Her mind must be like Prima Doll's, human in every way. Otherwise she wouldn't have realized I had been checking on her,'_ He thought, trying to judge how long exactly it would take to break down the internal barrier. Not long, it was about the same as the barriers he sometimes encounter in other strong willed people. However, he was a telepath and had the upper hand in these situations. It would just take a little time and a little pushing...

* * *

_There it is again. That person is trying to get inside, trying to see what I'm thinking. They can't get in right now, I've blocked them out, but I think They'll get through soon. They're much stronger then they usually are, and they don't seem to be tiring. I can already feel my defense breaking down, slowly being stripped layer by layer. I keep trying to push them away, but it just doesn't work. I'd be surprised if they knew I was trying to fight them. I pull back into myself as they break through and watch them from within the shadowy area within myself._

_I expect them to dive in deeper, to search through my mind to find what they need. Instead I feel them receding, leaving me by myself. It doesn't make any sense, and I finally reach out and try to hold the person still, feeling around them to try to figure out what's going on. I gain impressions and the intruder stops, maybe shocked or confused._

_Male, old... or maybe young? I can't tell, the impression feels like both. Strong... The connection shatters suddenly as they draw out and I'm left alone again. I still don't know why they've left me alone. It doesn't make sense._

* * *

Narcius looked at his brother, who seemed slightly bothered for a moment, and stopped for a second. "You okay, dude?" He asked, feeling a little worried. Karwyn nodded and continued walking, bothered that the doll had managed to get a hold of him for even a second. He must have gotten rusty in the time they had been gone from East Heaven. He'd have to be more alert next time he tried entering her mind. He wasn't sure whether or not this doll was hostile, but if it was and he got caught that easily next time he may be in some trouble.

"She seems to be more awake then I thought," He said as they walked, trying to shake how foolish he suddenly felt. Of course the doll would have done that, anyone would have if they felt someone creeping around inside their mind. At least she hadn't become violent with him. He didn't think she had the power to hurt him, but she probably could have become extremely troublesome. Up ahead he heard talking and stopped, his siblings stopping with him. How could they tell them that there were not there to cause trouble, but to get help? He wasn't sure it was possible. The doll's weight shifted and he realized he must have been squeezing it. He relaxed his grip.

"Let's go."

* * *

Maya was the first one to notice the three standing just outside their camp, as if waiting to be noticed. Rue looked at her and followed her gaze, starting when he saw the three ex-masters. Mint looked up and then jumped to her feet. "What do you want?" She said, eyeing the three of them warily. She noted how Narcius glared at her, typical, and Kirielle looked at her like she was an insolent child which irritated her, and Karwyn- She did a double take.

"When'd you get a girlfriend?" she asked, making the younger masters and everyone around the campfire burst into sudden, surprised laughter. Karwyn was decidedly less amused. "She's not my girlfriend, she's a doll-" "So, you **do** think she's cute?" Mint asked, cutting him off. Narcius was by now on the ground with tears in his eyes and Kirielle seemed to be having a lot of trouble catching her breath. Maya had covered her mouth with both hands and Rue was covering his face with his hat. Mint was laughing too, until a rock suddenly decided to chuck itself at her head. "Hey!"

"If your done now," He said, a humiliated flush slightly coloring his face. He set the 'girl' down and Maya noticed something odd about the limbs and joints. As the two younger masters recovered and Rue put his hat back on, Maya got up and walked closer to the girl and Karwyn. She kneeled down and picked up the girl's hand, studying it.

"She really is a doll, isn't she? Like Prima." Karwyn nodded, seeming slightly annoyed but better recovered from Mint's verbal attack. She noticed the glove on the doll's hand and went back to her spot.

"Well, I suppose you want our items to complete the doll, correct?" She asked, making Mint sputter and Rue look at her quizzically. Narcius and Kirielle both nodded, not making eye contact. Maybe they were hoping to avoid looking dangerous by doing so. She sighed.

"Come over here then, and bring the doll. We'll need to reach some kind of agreement, if we do indeed decide to help," she said, earning a look of contempt from her sister. The three ex-masters turned siblings headed around the campfire, Karwyn picking the doll back up and heading towards the group. The three sat down on the other side of the dead fire, away from Mint, Rue, and Maya. The doll sat slumped beside Karwyn and Narcius set a bag beside his feet.

"So, I know why your here and you'll probably use the doll to achieve that means, right?" She asked, addressing Karwyn since the other two seemed to be letting him call the shots. It seemed odd, that they had been abandoned by Ruecian as their master and now seemed to have chosen Karwyn to lead them. She wondered if they even realized they had done it.

"Yes, we'll use the doll to... achieve out means," Karwyn said, looking over at Mint for a moment before returning his gaze to Maya. Mint looked confused, as did Rue, but didn't say anything for the time being. There'd be plenty of time to complain once this discussion was over. Maya nodded thoughtfully and then looked at the doll curiously. "Who is she?" She asked, eyeing the face of the doll. Rue seemed to recognize it, but she couldn't place the appearance.

"We don't know her name, just that she was made by the person who lived here and was suppose to be a replacement for their dead child. When they realized the doll couldn't replace their child, they deactivated her and left her here it appears," Karwyn said, looking at Maya with his usual patient and calm manner. Did he never change?

"We did find some books, but they didn't contain a name either. Just a lot of information on the doll, some projects, and daily affairs. There wasn't anything in there on the relic either," Kirielle said, glancing at the bag beside Narcius. Maya nodded, looking a little disappointed. "So then, we're flying blind. Is that about right?" She asked, looking at them.

"Sounds about right," Narcius answered, drawing little patterns in the dirt, erasing them with his shoe, and then redrawing them. Mint sat down, looking bored, and Maya wondered if Kirielle and Karwyn got as irritated with Narcius as she did with Mint. "...Do you think this doll knows the location of the relic?" Maya asked, looking at the doll. Mint looked over, interest piqued.

"We're hoping she does-" "That thing knows where the relic is?! Well wake it up already!" Mint yelled with her usual enthusiasm. Narcius picked up a rock and Kirielle caught his wrist midswing, making him drop it. Karwyn looked at Mint for a few moments before speaking. "Princess Mint, I'm afraid the doll belongs to us and so you can't simply-" "Your's?! Ha! I can beat that silly doll out of- Oof!" Mint's tirades were cut short at a stone cracked her skull, knocking her out soundly.

"...That's not a problem, is it?" Narcius asked, lowering his arm and picking his stick back up. After a round of different variations of 'no' he went back to doodling in the dirt, drawing little frogs now. After a few moments of silence, Maya looked at the former Masters. "I agree the relic should not be in my sisters hands, however, what will you do with it once you possess it?"

"Hide it, or destroy it. I think the latter would be preferable, but if we can't find a way to destroy it we can certainly find a better hiding spot then here," Karwyn answered, drawing a slightly distracted 'Hear, hear,' from Narcius. He was drawing pumpkins now. Maya looked at them all, still slightly suspicious. "How would we know that's what your planning on doing?" She asked, watching for a reaction. They didn't even blink.

"You may accompany us if you like, but you will not follow us if we have to hide the relic. I'd hate to think of what would happen to us if Mint found out, and unfortunately, if you know she has a much better chance of knowing as well," Karwyn said, reaching out to catch the doll as it shifted and fell. He could feel fear coming off of it, but he didn't understand why really. He propped the doll back up and continued. "Hopefully it won't come to that, but I hope you understand if it has to."

Maya looked at him, and then finally sighed and relented. "You do realize that once we make sure my sister can't get a hold of the relic we'll be looking to bring you back to East Heaven for trial, right?" Kirielle giggled. "Just give us three steps towards the door before you come after us, 'kay?" She asked, making Narcius giggle quietly. Rue smiled at them all. It was so strange how everyone seemed to be getting along, as though those days in Carona had never happened and they had never met.

"We should probably put the glove and boots on the doll then, shouldn't we?" Rue asked, picking up their items and looking at Maya, who nodded. "Yes, the sooner the better."

Karwyn laid the doll back down and stepped away so Rue could place the items on her. Once the task was complete, the doll began to glow from the wrists, ankles, and crown, the doll's body working to alter itself to suit its new parts. Once that was done the doll laid there, still and silent. They all looked at it for a long time, silently staring, until Narcius mumbled, "Well, that was a rip off." Karwyn let out an audible sigh to express his disappointment, while Kirielle and Maya settled on twins slouches of defeat. Rue studied the doll further.

"Could it be out of energy? We had a similar problem with Prima and all it took was a few jolts of electricity to get him going again. Maybe we could do the same to her?" Rue suggested, making Kirielle and Narcius look up with interest. Maya smiled. "Your a genius Rue, all we need to do is wait for my dear sister to, eh, wake up from her nap."

Mint woke from her 'nap' a few hours later, and after much bickering with her sister, agreed to try to energize the doll. After four bolt of her strongest power though, the doll remained asleep. The group began to wonder whether or not the doll had been damaged in its long existence, and unable to find an answer they all began to go about their normal routine. The Master's, at Maya's own instance of keeping an eye on them, stayed with the princesses and Rue, making camp a short distance away.

While none of them talked much with each other, both groups noticed many differences between each other. Rue seemed much brighter, more cheerful then before. Maya was taking her training seriously for once in her life. Mint was... well, Mint was Mint. Maya noticed that Kirielle seemed to be very happy most of the time and that Narcius seemed to be a little more responsible. Karwyn was allowing his siblings to stand a little closer to him and didn't look bothered by casual contact anymore. They almost looked like a family now. It was strange to see, but kind of nice.

At evening the separate camps made dinner, made their beds, and went to sleep.

* * *

_It's quiet again. I can hear crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and the sounds of steady, deep, even breathing. It must be night now. I open my eyes and stare up at the sky. It's so big, and filled with so many stars! I haven't seen the sky in so long, I almost forgot what it looks_ _like. Slowly, I utilize my gloves and boots and search my body for the ability to move. My hands begin to close into fists, my feet arch. I can feel movement returning to me again. I sit up and look around._

_Beside the burning embers of the camp fire are three people, one girl and two boys. The girl must be the one in my dreams, who carried me out of the atelier. The younger boy must be the one who dropped me. The older boy... He was the one who kept entering my mind, I'm sure of it. I slowly stand, stumbling a little as my body slowly remembers how to walk. I stop beside the eldest in the group and kneel down, peering at the face._

_Old and young is the best way to describe it. I don't recognize his coloring at all, but I was never really allowed to go on long trips. As he sleeps I can feel him, still semi-conscious, trying to figure out who I am. I look away to the girl beside him._

_Pretty, with dark hair and semi-dark skin. She is young, and has the look of someone you'd never expect to fight. I know she can though, I'm not sure how, but I know. She sleeps deeply. Beside her in the youngest person here, the other boy._

_Youthful and slightly rebellious looking, his hair is red and pointy. His skin is much paler then the other two, closer to my color. He has the look of someone who fights, but he sleeps just as deeply as the girl. I turn back to the eldest, thinking._

_They want to destroy the relic. I can't let then do it, though I wish I could. It was my Father's life work, I cannot allow such a thing to happen. Slowly, with one trembling hand I reach for the eldest's face. I have no doubt they could all beat me in a fight, but if I can get him first, maybe I'll stand a chance. As one of my hand's reaches for his mouth and nose my other reaches for his throat, ready to pinch the veins leading to his brain shut..._

**Note: O.O Ooo, what's gonna happen? Heh, suffer... As I suffer in a house of energyless despair!!! -Emo-**


	19. Speak

**Note: Howdy y'all! ...I have no clue why but for each doll moment I switch the present tense. Very odd... O.o Oh dear, I'm still hallucinating from my sleepless night. Sorry if I'm lacking a chapter. My laptop's battery only runs for three hours if I'm playing a game of cards on here and half that time if I happen to be typing a story. Not very fun... -Screams in frustration-**

Karwyn snapped back into complete consciousness the instant he felt a fingertip brush against his face. As soon as he moved the hand above his face clamped down over his mouth and nose, cutting off his oxygen. Another hand laced its way around his neck, pressing down on the veins that kept his brain alive. The affect was instantaneous, he felt like his eyes were trying to float out of his head. He opened his eyes and saw two dark grey eyes looking back at him. His first thought was that Rue might have been trying to kill him and he stretched his mind out and captured the hands, wrenching them away. It was only when he realized how small and slender the hands were that he knew he was wrong.

He shoved the small form away, feeling his sister and brother stirring beside him. He heard a small cry as he sat up, taking in a deep breath of air and trying to clear his head. His neck ached terribly and he was just now starting to recover from the attack. He shook spots away from his eyes and felt a hand on his back. Kirielle's? "She's awake," he heard her say, and he suddenly realized who his attacker had been. Sitting on her knees a few feet away was the doll, staring at them all with dark grey eyes. Narcius swore quietly under his breath. "Man, we shoulda given her to the princesses and Rue... We mighta been short one Mint in the morning." No one laughed and Narcius fell quiet again.

The doll's hands were clenched into fists and shaking slightly from either anger or fear. She stared at the ground in front of her, looking scared and defiant. Karwyn rubbed his neck and felt the bruises forming there. "She has a strong grip," He said unnecessarily, making Narcius let out a short nervous giggle. Kirielle went to her blanket, and taking the knife she cut several long strips of cloth from it. She brought these strips to Karwyn, who took them without speaking and continued watching the doll with caution. To their surprise it hold out both of its hands, wrists up, to them and continued staring at the ground. Narcius and Kirielle grabbed the wrists while Karwyn bound them tightly, hoping the doll wasn't strong enough to break the wrappings and try another attack.

They sat down and studied the doll carefully, and Kirielle was surprised to see a slight blush begin creeping into the doll's face. _'Is it really that complex? To be feeling embarrassment?'_ She wondered, looking at Karwyn who had apparently noticed the blush as well and was looking away from her. Only Narcius continued to stare at the doll and the doll continued to stare at the ground. After a few moments the doll covered her face with her arms and Narcius looked away, apparently getting the message finally. Kirielle loosely tied the doll's ankles together and covered her with a blanket before joining her brothers around the fire pit. The doll wiggled, struggled, and fought for a moment before becoming still and silent again, apparently unable to overcome her bindings. The three let out a sound of relief.

Narcius spoke first. "Well, she's alive, we know that much. So now what do we do? Go to sleep and hope she doesn't try to screw Karwyn's head on a little tighter?" He asked, glancing over at his brother and sister. Kirielle giggled nervously and Karwyn seemed to be thinking the problem over while keeping a careful eye on the doll. The doll was now attempting to slip out of the bindings on her ankles which were looser then the ones on her wrists. After a few moments of kicking and struggling she gave up on that too and laid there silently.

"We may want to consider asking the princesses and Rue if we can join their camp for the night," Karwyn said quietly, looking over in the direction of the other camp. "Aw... Do we have to?" Narcius asked, looking vaguely tortured. It was probably the thought of having to spend even part of the night in the same campsite as Mint giving him that look. "Well, we could all just switch places to sleep," Kirielle suggested, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Karwyn could sleep in the middle, I could sleep closest to the fire, and Narcius could sleep on the outside. How does that sound?" Narcius thought this over, and after realizing this would place him closest to the doll, he shook his head.

"Maybe we'd better go with Karwyn's plan..."

* * *

"Hold still, ow! Son of a-"

"Hey Narcius, need help?" Kirielle called, watching her brother struggle to set the doll of her feet. The doll, it seemed, was refusing to cooperate in any way, shape, or form with him. She kicked, squirmed, swung her arms and attempted to bite him as he tried to prop her up on her feet. After a few more moments of struggle the doll caught him with her elbow and dropped her, nursing a blackened eye. The doll began to push herself up off the ground and then floated around three feet, looking extremely surprised and confused. Karwyn looked at Narcius, who continued to nurse his eye.

"Are you okay?" He asked, watching his brother scowl and the doll struggle to get down. Narcius nodded, removing his hand from his eye and grimacing. Apparently the doll had very sharp elbows, because his eye looked very red and very painful. Karwyn felt the doll stop struggling finally and looked back at it. It appeared to have gone to sleep, but he was fairly certain that if he set it back down the doll would try to take off. The bindings on her ankles should make any attempts at escape very difficult, but it would still be a bother to go grab her again.

They began cleaning up the campsite, stepping carefully around the silent, floating doll as they did so. It **looked** like it was asleep, but then again it had looked like it was sleeping before it had tried to strangle Karwyn so they wanted to play it safe. As soon as the campsite was cleared they headed over to the princesses campsite, hoping someone was awake. Luckily, Rue was, and he helped them settle the doll somewhere they could easily watch her. As soon as that was finished he looked the group over, noticing that the only person that seemed unharmed was Kirielle. The two brothers were bruised up in various locations.

"What happened?" He asked quietly, sitting back down and watching the siblings take different spots of their own. "The doll wasn't as broken as we had first assumed," Karwyn answered, touching the bruises on his neck. The was a large thumb sized one on the left side of his neck and four smaller ones on the right. Narcius' eye had turned an interesting shade of black and maroon and seemed slightly swollen. It would probably be worse in a short while. Rue seemed surprised.

"The doll did all of this?" Rue said, looking surprised. Prima Doll had never shown an ounce of violence in his life, except for the few threats he'd directed at Doll Master. "Is it her duty to protect the relic?" He inquired, thinking this could be the reason for the doll's odd behavior. The Masters thought this over, before giving a general agreement that this could definitely be a reason for the doll's behavior. The doll quietly drew her knee's to her chest and curled up, hopefully somewhere in the grasp of a deep sleep. Karwyn wasn't too willing to check and make sure, for obvious reasons.

"...Would you mind if we remained here for the night? I don't believe she can break those bindings, but it would always be nice to have others nearby if she can," Karwyn said, looking over at Rue who nodded instantly. "Sure, go ahead. I'd be worried too if it was me," Rue answered, smiling a little. Narcius sighed and dropped his blanket onto the ground where he sat, getting under it and waving. "Night everyone, wake me up if we're being killed or its morning."

Kirielle kicked him sharply, making him yelp loudly, before picking her own place to sleep. Karwyn watched his siblings before thanking Rue and finding a place to sit and wait. He didn't think he'd be doing much sleeping, not with the thought of that doll possibly going after him or his siblings. Rue looked at him for a moment, questions in his eyes, but didn't say anything. Karwyn didn't explain anything, instead he focused on trying to figure out how to get the doll to cooperate.

* * *

_Do I need to eat? I can't remember anymore, it has been too long. I know I get cold and tired, so maybe can get hungry as well. I'll need to find out before I try killing them again. They can't destroy the relic. They can't, it was Father's life work, the thing he loved the most. I must keep it safe, no matter what..._

_What's this? Something warm, and very soft. It feels kind of nice. What is it?_

* * *

Mint and Maya were both very surprised to find the Master's sleeping at their campsite the next morning. Well, two were sleeping anyway. Karwyn was wide awake when they opened their eyes, having long out lasted Rue who was lying there in a deep sleep. Mint looked angry and Maya nervous, until she noticed the various injuries done to the two brothers. Before either sister could ask, Karwyn looked over at the doll with a nearly imperceptible nod of his head. Maya caught on instantly.

"She.. She's awake and working?" Maya asked, looking over at the sleeping doll with a mix of curiosity and worry. The doll, apparently feeling her gaze, awoke and looked at her. She was covered with a blanket that had been tucked in around her carefully. She gazed at them quietly, looking confused and scared for some reason. Maya thought it might have been because she had attacked the Master's, or maybe it was the way Mint was looking at her.

"The doll is awake?!" She yelled, sitting straight up and running over Narcius and Kirielle in her attempt to get to the doll. Maya quickly caught her sister and locked her arms around her, barely restraining the excited girl. Karwyn quickly headed over and picked up the doll, which for once did not fight back as he carried her back over to his siblings for protection against Mint. As soon as the doll was safely seated between Narcius and Kirielle, Maya released her sibling. By now, Rue had woken up and was watching the odd scene with interest and confusion. Mint glared at Maya before speaking.

"What the heck was that for?! We're here to get the relic and that doll knows where it is! Lemme talk to her and-"

"Dude, I think 'rip limb from limb' would be a better description of what you looked like you were gonna do," Narcius said, Kirielle nodding vigorously beside him. Mint glared at the two and the doll didn't seem to know what to do, caught between being thankful and confused. "She's not your's anyway Mint, we found the box so she belongs to us," Narcius snapped, not sure why exactly he was protecting the things that had injured him but perfectly willing to make life harder for Mint.

"Why you-!" Mint swung her arms in his direction, yelling and cursing while Maya and Rue held her back, trying to calm the enraged princess. The doll shrank back behind the two young Masters, visually frightened now. After a few seconds of struggle Mint went limp and hung in her friend and sister's arms. Maya shook her sister and Rue looked at Karwyn who simply shrugged. Kirielle giggled gently. "Serves her right," Kirielle said, grinning at Mint's limp form.

"I know she was being foolish... But was that really necessary?," Maya asked, laying her sister down on the ground and looking at the Masters. Narcius shrugged saying, "I dunno, but I like her better this way. She's less annoying." Maya smiled, unable to deny this statement a bit. She looked over at the doll. "Doesn't she talk?"

"She hasn't yet. So far all she does is swing elbows and try to strangle my brothers," Kirielle answered with a touch of humor in her voice. Narcius let out a short laugh and Karwyn sighed, not finding much of anything funny with what the doll had done so far. Maya looked worried. "Then, how will we find out where the relic is? If she doesn't talk..."

"We can figure out a way. If she can write we'll have her write, if she can sign she'll sign, if she just doesn't want to talk to us..." Narcius shrugged. "We'll find a way to make her talk." Maya shivered at those words, knowing the implications behind them. She had almost forgotten what their jobs had been back at East Heaven, how they had been the ones to handle the 'dirty work' so to speak. It was almost scary, how different and so very the same they were. She began to open her mouth to protest when she heard another voice.

"That isn't necessary, I was given the capability of speech at my creation," the doll said, in a wispy, unused voice. Kirielle and Narcius both stared at the doll who said nothing more. Karwyn seemed slightly relieved. "Good, we won't need to do anything unnecessary then."

**Note: O.O I have three people who read this... _THREE_ -Cries for joy in the corner- Ahem -dabs eyes- Any suggestions for the story?**


	20. Author's Note

**Author's Note!!**

Me: ...GRAAAAHHHHH! WRITERS BLOCK! WRITERS BLOCK! WRITERS BLOCK! ...

Narcius: ...You done now?

Me: Not yet... -_takes a deep breath and continues to scream 'writers block'_-

Doll: ...How long will this go on?

All: An hour to all day

Doll: ...She can really rant, huh?

Karwyn: Yes, unfortunately she can. -_Pulls out a list_- She wrote down some things she's stuck on...

Kirielle: Ooo! What are they? -_Takes list_-

Karwyn: Why don't you two ask for something like normal human-

Narcius: A name? For that? -_Points to doll_- Leave her nameless, she tried to take my eye out.

Kirielle: Oh shut up about your eye already. You're such a whiner.

Narcius: ...It hurt...

Karwyn: -_Takes the paper back_- Give me that... She wants suggestions for the story, likes, dislikes, and twelve two liters of caffeine free coke?...

Me: Oops, sorry. I put some of my shopping things on there. -_Tears that part off and goes back to ranting_-

Narcius: ...She's the one controlling our fate?

Kirielle: Yep

Karwyn: Unfortunately...

Narcius: We're so screwed...

Doll: Probably...

Me: There are my demands! Now if you'll excuse me... -_Bangs head against a wall_- Writers block! Writers block! WRITERS BLOCK!!!

Kirielle: Should we stop her?

Karwyn: No, eventually she'll get tired and go to sleep.

Narcius: Good, she's creepin' me out man...


	21. Tool

**Note: This story may be longer then Clean Slate... Huh, will wonders never cease?**

**P.S. If you'd like to know how her joints and such look right now, check out Ghost In The Shell, Stand Alone Complex movie, Innocence I think it's called. In the opening sequence they show a robot that is sorta my basic image for this doll's joints and such.**

The doll stared at the ground, unspeaking and unmoving again. Narcius looked slightly annoyed with the doll's return to silence while Kirielle scooted closer to the doll, wondering if the doll would be more willing to talk to her then her brothers.

"Miss, we just want to get the relic so-"

"So you can destroy it," the doll finished, shaking her head slightly. "I won't help you. Father's relic was his-" The doll was cut off by Narcius who looked more then a little irritated. "Your father?! Don't you remember what that guy did?" He snapped, making the doll jump slightly. Maya shot a glare to the young Master which was completely ignored.

"Narcius, would you stop trying to be so charming?" Kirielle hissed, making her brother cross his arms and huff loudly. Kirielle gave Karwyn a slightly pleading look, and getting no response from him copied her brother. "You did it to Mint, why not him too?" Karwyn continued to refrain from answering her and Kirielle scowled. Maya decided to try her hand at talking with the doll.

"Miss, what's your name?" Maya asked, trying to sound as gentle and harmless as possible. The doll remained quiet for a long time before answering.

"Elita."

"Elita, that sounds like a nice name. Elita, why were you shut off?" Maya asked, trying to make the question as innocent as possible. Elita did not answer, opting to return to silent staring. Maya decided it was probably better then having the doll try to strangle her, so maybe she had made a little bit of progress.

"Mint- !!" Maya turned around, hearing Rue's startled cry, and saw him barely restraining Mint from getting up and going after the doll for information. Karwyn looked slightly irritated as the princess struggled, and his siblings quickly headed over to restrain her.

"Has she become even more bullheaded since we left?" Karwyn inquired as his siblings forced Mint to sit down again. Maya smiled apologetically and nodded a little before looking back at the doll. The doll gazed back at her and something pulled at the corner of Maya's mind. They had gathered everything to complete the doll, hadn't they? Then why did it feel like something's missing...?

"Elita, are you complete yet?" She asked, hoping the doll would at least answer her that. The doll quietly shook her head no. What else did she need then? She remembered that Prima had a necklace, was it something similar? "Elita, what do you need to be complete?"

No response. Elita seemed to have completely blocked her out now, gazing steadily at the ground with an empty expression. Passive resistance, she wouldn't hinder them but she wouldn't help them either. Maya sighed gently and sat back, looking at the doll. At the same moment, Mint broke free and ran over.

"What did she say?! Does she know where the relic is? Does she?! Huh?!" Mint cried, shaking her sister slightly in her excitement. Narcius and Kirielle watched from a distance as Rue and Maya tried to pry Mint off.

"I think she's gonna shake Maya to death," Narcius said softly to his sister. Kirielle nodded vigorously. "Or at least give her some moderate brain damage," she replied with a small giggle. Mint glared at the two and they stopped talking, for the time being. They were still throwing each other conspiratorial looks that suggested they'd be talking about Mint again soon, and they probably wouldn't be so polite next time.

"Mint! She didn't tell me where the relic is!" Maya cried, sounding both desperate and annoyed. Mint let her go, crestfallen, and seemed to deflate a little. Mint released Maya, much to her relief, and sat there with a defeated look.

"But... But," Mint pointed at Elita with renewed vigor. "WHY WON'T SHE TELL US?! I **NEED** THAT RELIC TO-"

"Conquer the world, blah, blah, blah. You need to get your head examined, **that's** what you need," Narcius quipped from behind her, making Mint lose her place in her rant and look extremely foolish. She turned around, ready to pummel Narcius, and came face to face with Kirielle. Mint's desires to destroy Narcius left soon after that, and Karwyn nodded approvingly to his sister who smiled.

"Now then," Karwyn said, walking past Maya and kneeling beside Elita. He looked back at Kirielle and Narcius, who had a good hold on Mint, and then at Maya and Rue who showed no signs of interfering. Hopefully it would stay that way, this doll was trouble and he didn't want to deal with her and two worried people.

He sighed and slipped into Elita's mind, hoping he'd only have to defend himself against her.

* * *

_The first attack came almost immediately. A twisting, burning pain hit and within the pain were images that changed too quickly to be examined. While he shook it off he felt Elita draw back inside of her mind, protecting herself from him. He suspected that if he tried to follow he'd be attacked again, probably with more violence then the last time, but there didn't seem to be any other choice._

_He ventured further, noticing how cold is seemed to become the deeper he went into her mind. He couldn't figure out whether it was her doing it, or if that was simply how her mind was. She was not human, after all, so it was very possible that this was normal. Still, it was very unsettling. The cold was almost a living thing that seemed to be reaching back into his body, chilling it and slowly lowering its temperature. He'd have to finish this quickly._

_'Get out!' There was that second attack he'd been waiting for. He used the inside of Elita's mind for protection against it, drawing the doll's own mind into the line of fire. The attack ripped through the inside of her mind, causing an internal scream that jarred his senses for a moment. It was as if whatever it had been that was holding him upright within her mind had vanished for a moment._

_'Stop it! Leave me alone!' He reached out, ready to defend himself again, but she did not attack this time. He continued, and quickly made it to where she was. Her prescience was horribly icy, and he realized the cold had been another defense. If she could freeze him there, kill or injure his mind, the injury would effect his physical body as well. He imagined he already had several bruises and maybe some bleeding from the first attack._

_'Elita, you're going to cooperate,' He told her calmly, ignoring the cold that bit bitterly at his lungs. He'd already gone through this before and he knew once he was out of here he would be just fine. Elita responded by ignoring him, the cold presence unrelenting. He could distantly feel someone shaking him and his mind loosened its hold for a moment before regaining its hold._

_'Elita-'_

_'Leave, now.'_

_'...Very well,' he said, reaching forward and seizing Elita's consciousness and searching it. He imagined it must have been very painful because she began screaming instantly. Hopefully, she wouldn't be able to focus on driving him out while she was suffering. He could feel her thoughts scrambling, the cold slowly receding, and her defenses breaking down._

_There it was. The faintest glimmer of knowledge, deep inside her psyche. He reached for it, felt his mind closing around it, and quickly withdrew. He felt her mind clawing at him as he left, leaving stripes behind where she had struck. Then he was-_

* * *

-back inside himself, shockingly cold and sore. Mint was asking what was going on, Maya was hanging onto the doll which had gone limp after such a struggle, Rue looked very confused, and his siblings were alternating between helping Maya and helping him.

Karwyn brushed his siblings away, taking several breaths to warm his lungs back up. That must have been why they were shaking him, his core temperature had dropped slightly while he had been gone and was now attempting to rise back up to a healthy temperature. Narcius watched him, fists slightly clenched, and Kirielle reached over to firmly grasp his wrists. Karwyn suspected he was very close to being struck for entering the doll's mind when it so clearly did not want to part with any information about the relic.

"...What did you do to her?" Maya asked, holding Elita's limp form. She had lost most of the color the gloves and boots had returned to her skin, and there was no question as to whether or not she was unconscious now.

"She did not want to part with any information on the relic, so I took it," Karwyn answered, seemingly unconcerned with what he had done to Elita. He reached over to see if Elita was still functioning normally, and found his fingers refused to move at his command. They were cold, but surely not frozen? He'd have felt much more pain if that were the case. He forced his fingers to move, and this time felt the message get through to the digits. They uncurled, and pain bolted from the fingers into his palm. Not frozen, locked up.

"What did you find out?" Kirielle asked, releasing Narcius after he seemed to calm down. Karwyn kept a wary watch on his youngest sibling as he answered. "The doll, Elita, will not be able to help us retrieve the relic," He said, making Mint gasp aloud. He ignored her and continued. "She... does not know where the relic is, nor does she know its nature. She knows it exists within these ruins, and she knows how strong it is, but its exact location and how this power manifests itself..."

"You mean she doesn't know anything beyond what we already know, right?" Rue stated. Karwyn nodded and Mint let out a groan of frustration. Narcius looked briefly over at the doll, and Karwyn nodded imperceptibly.

Yes, she knew where the relic was.

Yes, she could be used to obtain the relic.

Yes, they were taking Elita with them to retrieve the relic.

* * *

Mint, in a foul mood, took to accusing the Master's of lying about the information obtained from Elita, and for once Maya couldn't help but feel that her sister was right. Why else would they want to keep an incomplete doll with them as they continued their search? Why else would they go back to their own campsite when the doll had already attacked them once? Yes, Karwyn needed rest. He'd fallen into a dead sleep almost before they'd left and probably wouldn't be waking back up until tomorrow. Still...

"Eh? Maya? What're you thinking of?" Mint asked, taking a break from her ranting to look at her sister. Rue looked over, concern in his eyes.

"...Do you think that they're hiding something too?" Rue asked quietly, hoping a little she would say no and deny his own fears. Instead she nodded, face lined with sadness. Mint bit her lip and looked away. She hated them, but they had seemed so different that she had almost hoped she was wrong.

"I think we had better follow them tomorrow to where ever they decide to search..."

* * *

"He sleeps like a dead man, huh?" Narcius said, making yet another odd face at his sleeping brother. It had been around an hour since he had started doing this and it had yet to lose its appeal. Maybe it was because he knew he would never get away with it if his brother were wide awake.

"Narcius, knock it off," Kirielle said, tossing another piece of wood on the fire she had made. Narcius looked at her as though she were nuts. "Screw that, I'm gonna keep doing it until he wakes up and strangle me himself," Narcius said, pulling at his eye lids and sticking out his tongue.

Kirielle sighed and looked over at Elita, who remained in her own deep sleep. Her color was returning quickly and she suspected the doll would awaken soon, but how soon exactly? She looked away and continued tending to the fire. Kirielle had always known that some people, particularly children it sometimes seemed, were capable of producing their own mental defenses that were very different from simple barriers and walls. Depending on the person the defense could be passive, such as things which were meant to slow the intruder down or stop them completely, aggressive, such as things which attacked in ways that affected the body, or both. The doll seemed to have defenses that fit into the third category, attacks that hindered and injured.

'Troublesome,' Kirielle thought, looking up to see her younger brother make a particularly grotesque face. She clenched her fist, feeling herself growing angry.

"NARCIUS! KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!" Narcius nearly fell over, shocked by the force of her voice. He recovered quickly, and turned to face her, angry. "What the heck?! It's not like he's awake-" Ah, but he was. In under a second Narcius was lying on the ground favoring the back of his head while Karwyn sat behind him favoring his hand.

"Oww..."

"How many times have I told you not to turn your back on someone just because they look like they're no dangerous?" Karwyn asked, rubbing the pain out of his hand. It was a little easier to move now that he had been able to rest his mind. It would soon become normal after a little use. Narcius got up, rubbing his head and heading towards the other side of the fire. "Good morning to you too..."

"Feeling any better now?" Kirielle asked as her younger brother collapsed beside her. Karwyn removed the blankets from himself and gave Narcius and Kirielle back their belongings. Narcius curled up in his blanket, ready for sleep, and Kirielle covered her legs up with the blanket. Karwyn nodded and stood up with his own blanket. The younger Master's watched curiously as he covered the doll up and then went back to his spot.

"You're weird," Narcius commented sleepily, already putting his head down to sleep. Kirielle gave him a little shove which went ignored. "Oh hush up, Narcius. We can't let her die, she's the only tool we have to get the relic. Besides," Kirielle said, looking over at the still doll. "We've been tools too, haven't we?"

**Note: Hm... Time for the next writing block :)**


	22. Followed

**Note: ...What was the last chapter about? -Looks- ...When'd I write this? O.O ...Oh yeah!**

They headed back to the atelier early in the morning, Elita's ankles unbound but her wrists still tightly tied together. They left their campsite still made, hoping the princesses and Rue would see it and believe that they were just going out to gather a little more information on the relic. It was a faint hope, but it was the only hope they had and they took it without complaint.

They ignored many of the passages and only took the ones that led to the collapsed passage, the one Narcius had been searching until he had reached the end. At the end, they stopped and stared with a silent, curious thought as to how they were going to get through the mess of rock and rubble to get to the other side. Removing the rocks could cause a cave in if the area around the rocks was unstable, but teleporting was possibly just as dangerous since they did not know what lay beyond the blockage. After a short time by a silent mutual consent they began to remove rocks, hoping they'd have a little warning if the rocks did start to fall. They could probably get out of the way if the passage started to collapse. Probably.

Elita stood behind them without attempting escape, knowing she could not run fast enough to get away from these three humans, and watched their progress. Narcius moved the fastest of them all, though both of his siblings kept telling him to slow down.

Elita watched, and tried to understand them. Why had they not deactivated her yet? It would have been so much easier then dragging her down here and hoping she'd stay still long enough for them to get their job done. Also, what possible reason did they have for destroying the relic rather then keeping it for themselves? What did that girl mean by _'We've been tools too'_?

It did not make sense. **They** did not make sense.

Narcius continued his frenzied pace, despite his siblings protests, and finally paid for it. The stones finally began to shift, falling in the direction of the Masters. Karwyn grabbed Kirielle who had been kneeling down to pick up a paticularly large rock. Narcius started to turn back and stumbled, standing just a few feet from the tumbling rocks...

Elita reached out a looped her bound arms around the young man, pulling with enough force that he choked and gagged. She put one foot back and pulled harder, knocking him off balance and throwing them both backwards. A stone, large enough to crack someone's head open, fell and nearly crushed his foot. He was, almost, safe. Elita removed her bound wrists from his throat and heard him sucking in large breaths of air.

_'Humans are very fragile,'_ She thought, noticing the red marks around his pale throat and the way he coughed. She imagined that stone would have certainly killed him had it made contact. She became faintly aware of Narcius' staring at her with a slightly confused expression and looked at him, wondering what was bugging him so much.

"...Um, thanks?" He said quietly, the last words raised in a silent question. Elita looked at him, and then understood. She looked away from the odd boy and refocused on trying to figure out the group. Narcius stared at the doll, extremely confused, for a few more seconds before he started pulling down rocks again, this time going much slower then before.

_'Why do that? Why help?'_ She answered her own question. _'I was just making sure he wasn't shut off, since they didn't shut me off.'_

* * *

They broke through finally, and peered down the dark passageway beyond the rocks and rubble. The lights were not on here, and the water which should have been flowing down the walls puddled on the ground and flowed out the small holes in the bottom of the walls. It was dark, cold, and the air smelled awful; as if something had had died within the sealed passageway.

Kirielle climbed through first, stepping into a small puddle of cold water and shivering slightly before turning around to wait for the next of her siblings to come through. Narcius followed her, covering his mouth and nose with a slightly sickened look on his face. He gagged slightly on the horrible smell of the passageway and Kirielle smiled grimly.

"Better get used to it, it's only going to get worse," she said, watching Elita attempt to negotiate the stones and rubble to enter the passage. Narcius and Kirielle each took one of the dolls arms so she could balance while Karwyn followed them through. He looked down the passage, into the blackness just a little ways away. Narcius, Kirielle, and Elita looked down the hall as well and wondered what was there now.

"What's down there?" Kirielle asked, voice calm but pupils dialated with fear. Narcius laughed weakly before answering, "Whatever crawled in here and died, duh." Kirielle gave him a small shove and then the group slowly began walking, Narcius fishing the matches out of their bag, since it didn't make any sense to be wasting energy to make a flame when they may need to fight. When they reached the complete darkness, he struck one of the matches, casting a flickering yellow light around them.

"Maybe we should have walked in the dark," He muttered, seeing the skeleton of some sort of creature lying on the floor in a puddle of rot and water. They walked, stepping around bones and muck until the match flickered out of existance and then stumbling around a little bit until Narcius lit another one. Eventually they all linked hands and Karwyn led them, unhindered by the oppressive darkness around them.

"It's a good thing you were a part time 'blind man' you know, Otherwise we'd be screwed," Narcius said with a little forced teasing in his voice. Karwyn said nothing, though Narcius did let out a short yelp in the dark which could have meant that Karwyn had let Narcius know how he'd felt in a way that didn't necessairily require the use of a voice. Kirielle giggled and Narcius grumbled darkly to himself as they walked, Elita remained silent the whole time.

"Be careful, there seems to be something up ahead," Karwyn warned, just as Kirielle foot bumped something soft and wet. She squeaked and nearly climbed up Narcius' back, pulling Elita forward and into Kirielle's back and making Narcius run into Karwyn. "Sorry! Sorry..." Kirielle said, sounding nervous and slightly ashamed at the same time. Narcius made a sound of irritation and slowly they started forward again.

"I-I'm sorry, but it's so dark and- Eep!" Kirielle jumped again, this time as something small and warm ran past her leg. Narcius grabbed her arm so she wouldn't run into anyone again and they slowly continued. After what seemed like a long while, they came to a stop and Karwyn broke off from the group.

"Dude, what are you doing? Get back here!" Narcius hissed into the darkness. There was no answer and Narcius began to fumble for the matches again. He struck one, and bathed the passage in light again. He saw Karwyn trying to negotiate his way through a slim opening in the wall. He started to say something, and then his brother vanished from sight and the match went out. "Son of a..."

"Settle down. There seems to be some way to open this, but I'm not sure if the mcheanism is damaged or not..." Karwyn's voice came through the hole, muffled, but in its usual calm tone and it settled the two siblings. Kirielle slipped through the hole after him without hesitation to assist her older brother while Narcius kept a hold on Elita's wrist and waited for the two to figure it out.

"...I won't help you get Father's relic," Elita said suddenly, in such a soft voice the words sounded like a hiss of air escaping into the passageway. Narcius jumped, then scowled before saying, "It doesn't matter if you will or won't help us. We can find a way to make you help us if needed." Elita was quiet a moment before she spoke again.

"...I won't help you."

Something creaked, then cracked so loudly it sounded like a gunshot in the dark passageway. Narcius jumped again and then heard a grinding sound, like stone scraping against stone. The door was opening, slowly but surely it was beginning to open. He struck a match and saw his brother and sister on the other side of the ancient doors and hurried to join them, pulling Elita along with him.

"Hey Narcius, were you scared while you waited?" Kirielle teased, earning a small push from her brother. "Shut up, I was not scared- Ah!" Narcius cried out as a hand landed on his shoulder, startling him before he realized who it was.

"We should hurry... Something doesn't feel quite right," Karwyn said, releasing his brother and heading down the short passageway. Narcius follow with Kirielle close behind, and slowly a dim glow began to light the passage.

The glow, they noticed, was coming from the edges of the floor as if the channels used to hold water were letting in the light from the levels below the passage. It cast a dull, blue white light acrossed their faces and sapped them of color, making them appear washed out and pale. Even Narcius' hair had lost its color and seemed dull and lifeless. The further down the passage they walked, the brighter the glow became and the more ghost like the four seemed to become.

At the very end of the passage stood yet another door, this one far more intact then the one Kirielle and Karwyn had opened. Elita stood stock still in front of it, refusing to look at the entrance, and they all knew that this was it. What lay beyond was what they were looking for, and what they needed this doll for.

Without preamble they each leaned on the door, pushing it open as Elita watched them with an empty gaze. It slowly opened...

* * *

Mint, Maya, and Rue stood at the far end of the first level, where the rocks and stones had been moved from the passage. Rue kneeled down and picked up a single, burnt out match. Without a word passing between them they started down the passageway, straight towards the door at the end, and straight towards the Masters and the doll...

**Note: Sorry it took so long and is so short... College is sapping me of my spare time/Sleep time. Two and a half hours sleep... No one should have to suffer so, NO ONE!**


	23. Monster

Note: Sorry I haven't done one of these in a while! WoD and College has taken over my life... MY LIFE! Augh... I'll complain more later.

* * *

Valen's Fortress had been a study in beauty and indulgence with floating walkways, gateways, and elaborate traps. This place they had walked into, however, was not. Time had degraded any hint of majesty to a pitiful state of rot and water flooded the floor. A small wave of it flowed out and splashed everyone's ankles and feet, and then the scent of decay hit. Elita covered her nose and mouth in a vain attempt to keep the smell out of her nose and mouth, and even the Master's had to take a moment to get over it.

"Oh man..." Narcius said, coughing into his hand and trying not to gag. "Did something die in there? I think I liked the passage better." Kirielle adamently nodded her agreement, spitting out the saliva in her mouth that seemed to have captured the flavor of the air. Karwyn winced at the stench and looked inside, noting that this area was still receiving power. The dim lights revealed rotten desks, tattered wall hangings, and the bones of a long dead monster. That at least explained where the smell had come from...

"...Do you think that there are more of those around?" Kirielle asked, studying the shape and thickness of the bones warily. Whatever they had belonged to had been big and strong... Very strong. Narcius followed his brother in, and Kirielle followed them, pulling Elita along with her. Narcius looked and the bones and shook his head.

"I-I don't think anything like that is alive anymore... It's been dead to long," He said in a voice that was probably suppose to be reassuring and wasn't. His voice was too frightened for it to be reassuring, and the memory of the guardian was still strong in her mind. Things like _that_ were not supposed to be alive anymore, like the things in Valen's Fortress, but guess what funny face? They were there too, and they were alive and well and able to attack. Able to kill...

"Are you coming?" Kirielle let out a sound, vaugley similar to a mouse being stepped on, and looked around before scowling at her eldest brother. Why did he always have to say something right in the middle of her freaking out? It just was not right...

Maybe he knew what she was thinking, in fact she was almost positive he did know, because he looked away quickly as if to hide some sort of amusement or teasing look. Kirielle looked along the slimy, weed covered floor for something to throw at him, then stopped. Something small and blue glistened under the years of muck and ooze. Glistened almost as if it were alive. Kirielle kneeled down for a closer look and then scooped the tiny gem up. It looked very familiar, but she could not place where exactly she had seen such a thing. Elita stared at the back of Kirielle's head while she examined the gem, then moved her gaze to the gem.

"Hey, what d'you have Kirielle," Narcius asked, looking over at his sister who looked into the gem with a transfixed expression. She looked back up and then over at her brother who had his head tilted like an inquisitive dog. She held out the gem in her hand.

"I found this on the floor, does it look familiar to you?" She asked as Narcius leaned over the little gem. He struck a match to get a closer look, and then light from the match bounced off the little gem and filled the room with sudden radiance. Kirielle dropped the gem in shock, and Karwyn turned towards his siblings, alarmed at the sudden light. Narcius dropped the match to the ground, and it hit the murkym watery floor and went out with a -hiss-. Elita gazed at the gem... And began to step backwards slowly.

Even without the light, the gem seems to glow and pulse with an unearthly light, as if it had a heartbeat and were living though it was not alive. Karwyn grabbed both of his siblings hands and pulled them to where he was, if only to know where they were and that he could take care of them. The motion shocked both Kirielle and Narcius, but they went to him willingly out of a familial instinct. They were family, and they needed to protect one another somehow. As he pulled them to himself, Kirielle let go of Elita's hand. It pulsed brighter, and brighter, and brighter... And then the light blinded them all.

------------------

Within one blinding moment. Within one moment of pure whiteness that seemed to last an eternity, and may well have lasted an eternity for all they knew, everything changed. The floor was clean and polished to such a shine that it seemed to glow. The walls were smooth and had tracks of water flowing downward from the ceiling leading to small rivers on the floor. The rivers lead to the center of the room where they swirled in a constant whirlpool which turned a crank and created pure power. The entire room was decorated in silver, gems, and black and blue stone.

"...DUDE! What the heck man?!" Narcius yelled, looking as if his eyes would pop out of his head at any given moment. Kirielle stood with her mouth gaping, gulping air like a fish out of water with a look of open shock. Karwyn stood stock still a moment before looking around and feeling out the room to see what was happening. The room he saw _looked_ real, and it _felt_ real... But there was no possible way it could be real, right?

"W-Where's the doll? Where d-did the doll go?" Kirielle suddenly said upon seeing her empty hand. The three looked around, and saw no dark eyed doll. She had vanished along with the decimated room. Karwyn began to open his mouth, to try to begin formulating a plan, and the doors down at the end of the room opened up. Two people entered the room, a smaller, more feminine figure and a larger masculine form.

_**' "Elita, did you remember to bring him here?" '**_ The larger figure asked, looking over at the smaller one. The small figure nodded his affirmation. _**' "Yes father. He is sleeping like the others right now.." '**_ The larger figure ruffled the smaller one's hair and they continued moving forward. As they approached, the three master's could see that one was Elita, and the other was a Magician. Kirielle frowned and stared into the face of the magician, trying to remember the magcians she had studied back in East Heaven. She drew blanks, her mind in a stupor from the shock and awe of what she realized she was seeing. A memory stored within a stone.

**_' "Excellent, we'll need to put him into the relic with the rest before he begins to breakdown..." '_** Narcius frowned at the word 'breakdown.' In a chemical sense, it referred to how long it took a chemical to lose it's bonds or decay. Why would they use such a term to refer to a person... Elita went to the front of the room, to an altar of some sort which had long since been broken down to rubble. Upon the altar laid a person, a boy to be precise, who seemed to be asleep. He wore white clothing like a burial robe, and had a bandana covering his forehead. His hair and skin were such a pure white they matched his clothing. The Magician watched Elita turn the boy's head so his eyes faced the ceiling. She then kneeled before the altar in waiting, hands held upward as if in prayer.

"...What's going on?" Karwyn finally asked himself quietly. He didn't understand why, but somewhere in his soul there was a stirring like a long forgotten dream. Kirielle scrunched herself up with a look of fear, and stepped behind her brothers as if to hide herself like a very small child. Narcius was pale and shakey. Something bad was going to happen.

The Magician walked over, and took a knife from his own robe. He placed his hand upon the boy's bandana, and pulled it back exposing a stone embedded in his forehead. With Elita kneeling before the altar, arms raised in silent prayer and the unconscious boy, the unconscious Doll of Valen laying there unconscious and unaware the magician raised the knife into the air... And brought it streaking down to the stone. The Doll's eyes opened. There was a shock of light and a scream... And then nothing. It took a moment for them to realize that it had been Kirielle's voice that had screamed, and not the Doll's. The Doll's mouth was still closed with it's eyes wide open in shock.

As the body of the doll began breaking down, decaying and turning into the dew of the universe from which it had been created, the Magician set the stone that had once resided within the forehead of the Doll in one of Elita's upturned hands. Elita clasped her pale hand over the bloody, blue stone and stood. _**' "Take it to the relic, Elita, before the soul can escape it."**_ '

The master's watched as Elita walked from the altar to the whirlpool in the middle of the room which powered the entire altelier. From between the doll's small, slender hands a pale blue light shone. It pulsed as if alive. Elita sat at the edge of the pool and stuck her feet in, then she hopped into the water and vanished from sight.

Narcius looked over at the Magician, swallowing repeatedly to avoid throwing up, and saw him picking up what remained of the doll and setting it on the floor. Then he walked away, without checking to make sure the death was quick, without seeing to what would remain after the breakdown would receive a properly burial. He just left. From where he was, Narcius could see the irregular rise and fall of the small chest of the Doll. Not only that, but he could see the eyes slowly turning to look at the Magician as he walked away. The Doll was aware, he _knew_ what was happening to him...

The light began to flash again, brighter and stronger with each moment. Kirielle held onto her brother's hands. Something within the whirlpool glowed and a small, feminine figure climbed out. The Magciain stopped at the doorway and looked over at the small, female doll. He smiled.

------------------

_'Good girl Elita''_

_'...Daddy?'_

* * *

Note: ...MWAHAHAHA! I'M BACK! SUFFER MORTALS! SUFFFEEEERRR! ...Sorry, I'm in the middle of class at the moment. By the way, this will more than likely turn into some sort of horror story soon.


	24. Torn

**Note: ...Blaring music, check. Two people talking whom must be blocked out by blaring music, check. One long paper I -should- be working on but am neglecting to write a story... Check.**

_So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?  
So many years have passed through war, the noble and the prized Will all our sins be justified?_

Vertigo must be one of _the_ worst feelings in existance. Off balance. Nausea. Dizzy. Confusion. All rolled up into one feeling, stuck in a blender, and then put on high. That was vertigo, and Narcius thought if the feeling lasted any longer he would puke, pass out, or both at the same time. Now that would be interesting.

As it was, Narcius only managed to nearly collapse on the muck covered floor and even that was stopped by Karwyn who snaked his arm around Narcius' middle to hold him up. Kirielle managed to hold her own, but just barely it seemed as her knees were shaking and her face was pale and covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Karwyn didn't seem too bad, but Narcius had always known his brother to have enough steel in his spine to keep himself going through the worst of situations and to have some left over for others to borrow from. Narcius lifted his head and saw the grimy, age worn room and exhaled with relief.

They were back. Not in a room with a Magician cutting fragments of the Dewprism from the still living bodies of Dolls, not with a relic hidden in a whirlpool being fed the shards, and not with a homicidal little- Oh crap.

"Where'd the doll go?" He asked, looking around the room for any sign of the white and grey girl he'd seen just before the memory and then within the dream. Kirielle stared at the little gem, still pulsing and glowing on the floor like a heartbeat as if hypnotized by the glow. Narcius no longer wondered where it had come from, they had _seen_ where it had come from. Karwyn released Narcius, who felt himself nearly tumble to the ground again before his leg went out automatically and caught himself. The sense of vertigo, brought on my the memory and each abrupt change in scenary, was fading. Thank goodness.

"She never made it into the memory..." Kirielle whispered, fading off at the end. They all knew why she had not gone into the memory, the image, with them. If she had been there with them when they had seen her kneeling, waiting ever so patiently for the Magician to cut the stone out of the doll's forehead for her to take to the whirlpool, they'd have killed her whether she was the only way to get to the relic or not. To have such a person with them...

Narcius abruptly tripped and fell over some debri, landing face first in the muck and letting out a squawl of disgust and frustration, as well as several well chosen words. Kirielle looked over and giggled, a high pitched,slightly nervous sound, and Karwyn sighed softly and picked Narcius back up by the neck of his shirt. Narcius choked, and gagged slightly before he was righted on his feet, then he stumbled around a bit trying to regain his bearings. When he finally managed it, the first thing he did was shoot a glare down to the floor and then blink.

"Hey... I think I found the whirpool... thing..." He said, eyeing the debri covered floor. Specifically, he was looking at the wooden, half rotten plank that laid at an odd angle on the floor, covered with rocks, mud, and moss. The cut of the end of the plank was curved, like a circle. Karwyn looked down at the plank and Kirielle reached into her pocket and removed a hankerchief to clean her younger brothers face. Narcius scowled, but allowed her to do so and Karwyn moved the planks and rocks away from their resting place. Beneath the planks, the rocks, the mud and rot laid a hole that went down maybe twelve feet then led off into a tunnel. There was a strange blue glow coming from the tunnel, like the gem...

* * *

**_' "Daddy?" '_**

**_My footsteps sound like wet smacks on the floor. A wet smacking sound... And the crunch of bones from rats and dead things beneath my feet. Still, Daddy called to me and I will not leave my Daddy waiting..._**

**_' "Elita, hurry now... Those three are behind you, they have something I need Elita. Don't disappoint your father." '_**

**_Disappoint Daddy? How could I do that?... I would do anything for my Daddy._**

**Anything?**

**_' "Listen closely, Elita..." _**'

* * *

Karwyn was nervous. More then that, he was afraid as if some deep rooted part of him had scented danger and was now screaming for him to turn and run, run and take his siblings before they were hurt or killed. He did not run, but he kept his eyes focused on his younger kin and the area ahead of them. He never had feelings like this without reason, and he was certain that unseen sense was not wrong now.

They continued down the tunnel, Karwyn leading and feeling out the passageway as they went. The deeper they went the stranger he felt, like he had felt as a small child in an overly crowded room. Overwhelmed by others presence, their thoughts, their heat, their emotions... But no one was down there besides them. And the bones. Kirielle had stumbled over the first set of remains almost immediantly, and they had found many more after that. In each set of bones, the skulls had cuts in them. Cuts that focused on the forehead specifically. The count was up around fifty now, fifty shoved within a tunnel roughly twelve feet high and so far less than a hundred feet long.

And they still were not finished walking.

Narcius walked close to Karwyn, and Kirielle held her younger brothers hand as she walked. Karwyn held no ones hand... And somehow felt sad about that. By some silent agreement in this dire situation, it was decided that while it was okay for Kirielle and Narcius to hold one anothers hands for comfort, it was somehow not okay for Karwyn to join in this act. It made him feel... locked out somehow, though he understood it perfectly fine. He had always understood it, it was only now that he began to question it.

Brothers and sisters as small children held one another when frightened, or to protect one another. Even as small children Narcius and Kirielle had demonstrated this, clinging pathtically to one another for comfort and support in the middle of heavy fire, in the middle of wars, even when Ruecian was having a stern talk with them. They had always done this, always held one another as siblings do. Karwyn had not. Where they cowered, he had killed. Where they had cried, he had tortured. Where they fell and went to one another for comfort, he had stayed back in the shadows and stood alone. Always seperate. Always contained. Always.

It made sense then, but why didn't it now? He felt so odd... So torn.

"Karwyn?" He looked back at his sister, the person who had become his sister out of necessity and was now truly his sister, and was stunned by how young she looked. As though she were still a child...

"Should we leave? This place gives me a bad feeling.. Like another one of those monsters is down here," She said, looking down the passage way. He looked as well, focusing on the inky darkness broken only by short pulses of light. He would have said it was foolish to think such things, but he felt it as well. It was not just a stirring in your flesh, a feeling of danger for your body. They had fought far too many bloody battle to fear such things. It was a stirring in the soul, as if something was whispering warnings of danger into your innermost self and trying to get you to run, run, run..

But if they ran, they would not be safe from East Heaven. Mint would get the relic, and she would hunt them down and she would kill them or make them slaves until the end of their days. He, -they- could not let that happen. Not after everything they had gone through... Not after how long it had taken to make them a family. A family. It struck him that this was the first time he had refered to them as such, though it was true. They were a family, tied together by fate rather then by blood and they had taken more then half their lives to learn to trust and love one another as such.

They couldn't give that up...

They couldn't let anyone take that from them, not now when they were just coming to recognize it.

"We're almost to the relic, I believe. We will be able to leave once it is in our posession, I promise," he replied, putting the sudden internal conflict in the back of his mind where he believed it would be effectivley silenced. It was quieter, but it did not completely leave him as he had expected to happen. He kept walking and tried to shake the feelings that had suddenly unbalanced him, made him vulnerable and exposed in what he saw was a dangerous way. Knocking on deaths door was not a good time to begin soul searching, he'd learned that a long time ago.

* * *

Kirielle had never been so frightened in her entire life. The image of the Doll's sacrifice, for it had surely been a sacrifice as that was the only thing she had ever seen which compared, was burned into her mind and for some reason it had shaken her in a way nothing else had been able to in a very long time. She knew why it disturbed her, for she knew it was not the death that made her so frightened, it was what the one who wielded the knife had said.

_' "Take it to the relic, Elita, before the soul can escape it." '_

'The soul..' The idea made her tremble with fear. The image of a soul caught in a stone and then left, deposited, to whatever place was down here. Where did they put it? What had happened to it? Worst yet, was it still trapped down here somewhere? She held back a gagging sensation in her throat which she knew would turn into retching and them vomiting if she allowed it to run its course. She instead tightened her grip on Narcius' hand tighter, half expecting him to swat her and tell her to let go.

He didn't. His hand was cold, sweaty, and shaking slightly. It surprised her how frightened he was, how clammy and cold his hands were. Her brother had always been good at putting up a good front, always been good at laughing and making her feel more at ease just by making her so angry at him.

Except now, he wasn't joking. He wasn't laughing. He hadn't even sang a single annoying song. Now he was quiet, frightened, and alert from what she could tell. He was walking almost precisley in Karwyn's footprints without even realizing it. Kirielle looked down the dark passage, only visible under pulsing lights from who knew where. Only she had a feeling she knew, that she knew very well in fact. She focused on the back of her older brother's head, on the hair Grandma had cut for him. It was already a little bit too long around the back and would need another cutting soon, something he would never do. She'd asked him why once when they were little, the only response he had gotten was that if his hair was kept long it would keep his neck warm in cold seasons. It was a weak reason, but she supposed he didn't need to tell her why he did it. It was his hair.

She thought sitting there and watching her brothers would keep her calm. They were -always- calm. But now Narcius was terrified, and Karwyn... Karwyn looked strange, withdrawn, far away. She frowned quietly, unable to understand what was happening. Everything was so -strange- compared to how it should be. So alien. This was nothing like how it had been with Ruecian... Nothing at all. She gripped her brother's hand tighter and kept walking, feeling something was watching her... something that wanted to kill her...

But that was silly, wasn't it? Sure, this tunnel was filled with the dead, but the only thing down here with them was that doll, Elita. And she was far too small to cause any real damage to them, far too weak to be a real problem. She hoped that was the case anyway. If Mint, Maya, and Rue had found their way down... Things could become much worse for them. But she did not want to think about that, and so she didn't. Do your mission first, worry about other problems later was how it had always been, and now she put that idea into use again.

Get the relic. Get out... Then what? They would be safe, but then what?...

* * *

**_There is Daddy, waiting for me beside the relic. He does not look very happy with me, in fact, he looks angry with me. I have not gathered any more gem's for him, for the relic, and now its power has dwindled._**

**_But Daddy will give me a second chance, I know that. Even now he is getting the knife for me, the one he used to use. I will use that knife now since Daddy can't. There is one of Them coming. There are friends with Him, but He is coming, and this knife is for him._**

**_I need to do this for Daddy. I need to be a good girl for Daddy._**

* * *

**Sorry there's been a lag in chapters. It may take a long time to finish this one, but darnit, I'm trying. In the meantime, please pm me with ideas on plots.**


End file.
